On the Wings of Love
by RandomFan22
Summary: The story takes place early season 2. Rewatching the show as an adult, I can easily picture everyone not quite as innocent as the show portrayed them. So this is my take on the life of Keith Partridge - a little less innocent but much more interesting fo
1. Chapter 1

The story takes place early season 2. Rewatching the show as an adult, I can easily picture everyone not quite as innocent as the show portrayed them. So this is my take on the life of Keith Partridge - a little less innocent but much more interesting for him….

Chapter 1

Shirley was making breakfast as was the normal weekend morning routine – waffles, bacon and fresh squeezed orange juice. The difference this morning was that she had sent Laurie upstairs to get everyone moving instead of letting them sleep in, they had a plane to catch – well some of them did anyway. Shirley was not looking forward to telling Reuben that she, Chris and Tracy were not going to be able to leave until Tuesday.

Reuben had worked out a meeting with the most sought after young record producer in the industry and tied it in with a week's vacation to sunny Florida. They were on their way to Miami to be the guest of one Kip Randall. He was putting them up in a suite in his posh hotel/nightclub right on the beach. Every single member of her family was over the moon about the vacation and even more so about the meeting with Mr. Randall. Especially Keith, who wanted, no needed to impress him enough to have him work on their next album. It would be quite the coup for such a young songwriter. He had been hounding Reuben for any inside tips on what would impress Kip Randall most.

Reuben had been able to negotiate a family vacation to coincide with Mr. Randall's visit to his latest investment, the biggest, flashiest, most popular new nightclub and hotel in the city. The family was planning on spending the last week before school started relaxing and impressing the heck out of the new producer in their spare time.

"Hey Mom, everyone is up and moving, but Keith wasn't in his room. Have you seen him?" Laurie said as she walked back into the kitchen having mostly accomplished the task she had been sent to do.

"No I haven't. Did you look in the garage?" Shirley waved her spatula in the direction of the back door. "I heard him come home from his date last night, so I know he's around here somewhere."

"On my way." Laurie said as she headed out the back door looking for her brother. "Oh, hi Reuben. Mom's in the kitchen making breakfast. Let yourself in…."

Reuben waved and continued on to the back door where he'd been headed before almost running into Laurie. He could already smell the bacon and coffee through the open half of the split door. Good he was in time for breakfast. He knew Shirley would invite him to eat if he showed up while she was cooking. He was starving. It was one of the perils of being a confirmed bachelor who preferred anyone's cooking to his own.

Laurie silently opened the door leading into the garage and paused as she heard Keith playing a tune on the guitar. She scanned the garage to find Keith sitting on the piano bench with his guitar in his lap. She tilted her head to listen trying to figure out if it was a new song or just a variation of something old. Keith had taken to writing all of his music in the garage since Danny had overheard one of his songs and tried to claim it as his own. It had all worked out in the end, but Keith hadn't taken any chances since. After a minute she identified it as something new. Laurie now listened with the ear of a sister who had heard her brother's new, rough creations often enough and had gotten very good at recognizing their potential early on. Once the music faded she walked up behind him putting her hands on his shoulders, "Sounds good. How long have you been working on this one?"

Keith removed the pencil that had been clenched between his teeth so he could talk while leaning his head forward so Laurie's already moving hands could knead the knots out of his neck and shoulders, "God that feels good!" He groaned as he felt the tense muscles release under Laurie's strong fingers. "What time is it?"

"8 o'clock – give or take." Laurie answered as she sat down next to her brother to check out the sheet music propped on the piano.

"Then the song is about 7 hours old." Keith said tiredly.

"You've been out here all night?"

"M..hm…..guess I'll sleep on the plane". Keith said as he set down the guitar, picked the pencil back up and added a couple of more notes to the end of the page. "It's got a ways to go, but I should be able to finish it in a couple of days"

"Any ideas for the lyrics yet?" Laurie asked even while thinking that whatever he came up with would likely result in another hit song. Wasn't her brother writing hit after hit lately? Not that she would ever admit it to him, but he hadn't written a bad song in a year now if she did say so herself. Even with the added stress of upcoming recording dates and engagements, she was amazed at his ability to know exactly what the public would like.

He played a portion on the piano and added several more notes to the page. He was composing 'Brown Eyes' in its infancy. Laurie liked its potential.

"Nothing specific on the lyrics yet, but I've already got some arrangement ideas in mind."

"Well big brother," Laurie said, "What's the inspiration?"

"I broke up with April last night. You know how heart-ache and song writing go hand-in-hand." He smiled sadly.

"That or falling in love." Laurie added archly as she bumped her shoulder into Keith's playfully. When she noticed her comment didn't bring the expected grin, she changed her tact and put her arm around his shoulder. "Hey, wait a minute, what happened? I thought things were going really well with April. I mean, didn't she try impressing you for weeks before you asked her out?" As much as she teased her brother she thought he was quite a catch and never could understand why he didn't keep a steady girl.

"Yeah, some of her stunts were pretty brilliant, it's why I eventually gave in and asked her out. Huh, guess the reality of dating a singer didn't hold up to the fantasy. She was mad that I was leaving town this weekend and couldn't take her to the end of summer dance at school. Not that I would have taken her anyway." Keith shrugged off Laurie's arm. Keith hadn't been to a school dance since two very specific events. The first school dance he attended after their first album came out had been a disaster. He had just wanted to enjoy his date but the other kids wouldn't let him. They kept pestering him until he was guilted into singing several songs. His date was mad because all the other girls at the dance had fawned over him after he was done and don't even ask about how the guys reacted who's dates were more interested in Keith than them. The same thing almost happened at his prom but instead he'd ended up cutting out early with Carol. Memories of what happened after they left the dance and before Carol's curfew almost brought a smile to his face, but he was still pretty down about his most recent breakup. That had been his last appearance at a school held function other than sporting events.

"Well, she wasn't good enough for you then." Laurie believed that statement with all her biased heart. No girl who would break up with her brother over something so stupid after chasing him so hard was worthy of him. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast. Maybe some of mom's home cooking will cheer you up a little."

Keith sighed, grabbed the sheet music off the piano and got up to follow Laurie into the house.

"Shirley, you can't be serious!" Reuben had to refrain from screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Reuben I said I'm sorry, but this happens when you're dealing with the schedules of school aged kids." Shirley set another stack of waffles on the table that were attacked by her three youngest children who were the only other occupants of the table besides a very upset manager. "Chris, Tracy and I won't be able to leave San Pueblo until Tuesday. There's a special meeting of all the parents and kids with the new principal. It's a 'can't miss' meeting. We'll be able to fly out on Tuesday morning. I know it will really shorten our vacation, but I have no other choice. I've already rebooked our flight."

"But you're supposed to perform for Kip on Monday!" Reuben was 10 seconds from pulling every single hair out of his head – one at a time for effect if need be.

"Can't we reschedule for Wednesday?" Shirley tried to stay calm in the face of Reuben's near hysteria.

"Shirley you can't reschedule with someone this in demand on that short notice. Oh, why couldn't I have decided to manage the Osmond's?"

"Maybe because they were smart enough not to hire you." Danny smartly suggested.

Shirley ignored her middle sons attempt at humor and asked, "I hate to even ask, but why the Osmonds?"

"Because" Reuben said seriously, "they're home schooled."

"I've been considering dropping out of school anyway. What can they teach me that I can't learn by reading the Wall Street Journal?" Danny offered and then smiled angelically when Shirley frowned at him.

"Calm down Reuben, you haven't even tried to reschedule."

"You're serious?!?" Reuben was flabbergasted at Shirley's hopeful naiveté.

Keith and Laurie walked in the door just in time to hear Reuben's last comment. "What's wrong now?" Laurie asked.

"Reuben's having his daily coronary." Danny piped in. He wasn't happy about the unexpected change to their plans and the fact that they would likely not be performing for Mr. Randall, but he'd known since last night and had some time to get used to the idea. At least after his Mom had cut short all of his arguments and sent him to bed with a very definite 'and that's final' still ringing in his ears.

"Hmm…What's it this time?" Keith asked with little interest.

"Your mother has just informed me that we won't be able to keep our meeting with Kip on Monday." Reuben slumped in his chair with an untouched plate of food sitting in front of him. Reuben not eating was a definite indication of how upset he truly was.

"What?" Now Keith's interest was peaked. "You're kidding right? You have to be!"

"No, Keith." Shirley tried to be the voice of reason. "I found out after you left for your date last night that Chris and Tracy have to stay in town until Tuesday. The new Principal, Mrs. Allen called last night to tell me. We won't be able to fly out until Tuesday morning."

"Seriously?" Keith's hopeful look turned south quickly after Shirley shook her head.

"That really…… stinks!" Keith said as he headed out of the kitchen.

"Hey, where are you going? Aren't you hungry?" Shirley said with her usual motherly concern.

"Not anymore." Keith shot over his shoulder.

Shirley's eyes followed her eldest out of the room.

"Wow that really wasn't the best timing mom." Laurie flopped down into a chair at the kitchen table, "Keith's already pretty bummed out. He and April broke up last night. He was up all night writing out his heart ache in a new song. Another big hit almost completed if I don't miss my guess." The last comment was said with a wink towards Danny.

"A lot of good that'll do us without Kip Randall to produce it." Reuben sulked into this coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, Reuben hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen to see if Shirley would go for his latest idea.

"I just talked to Kip. He can't adjust his schedule to stay in town until Wednesday, but he did have an alternative – if you agree." Reuben's look was hopeful.

"Let's hear it." Shirley set down her coffee cup to give Reuben her full attention.

"Kip is alright not being able to hear the whole family perform if he can get to see Keith perform on his own. He said he can check out the family's talent at a later date but that as the chief songwriter, he wanted to be able to really get an understanding of Keith's abilities. That means that Keith will have to play with some other musicians." Reuben was leaving out a pretty big piece of information. Kip did want to see Keith perform with a band. It's just that his suggestion for a replacement for the family wasn't likely going to meet with Shirley's approval. Kip had suggested that Keith perform at his night club with the house band that performed on weekdays – it was the only opening in his schedule. They would still meet at a studio during the day on Monday, but it would be to discuss songwriting, arrangements and recording philosophy instead of a Partridge Family performance. Reuben soothed his guilty conscience telling himself that it wasn't actually a lie just a small omission. "I'll make sure everything goes smoothly. If Kip likes what he hears, he said he'd come out to San Pueblo a little later in September to meet with you and hear the whole family at that time."

"Oh Reuben, I just don't know. Keith was so nervous about this to begin with. How is he going to handle this being on his own?"

"Oh mom, Danny and I can be there for moral support! Right Danny?" Laurie eagerly offered. She had been cleaning up the breakfast dishes and avidly listening to the conversation.

"Perfect!" Danny quickly agreed with Laurie's suggestion, "What better support could Keith ask for than me and Laurie?"

Shirley huffed out a breath of air and wrinkled her nose at her middle son. She had a funny feeling about this whole thing but after several minutes of thinking about how much this meant to Keith and his future, the family's future, she resignedly nodded her head. "With you and Laurie for moral support, how can anything go wrong, right? Besides, Reuben will be there to make sure everything is ok."

She sounded like she was trying to talk herself into it. After another pause and search for answers in the bottom of her coffee cup, she looked up at Reuben and said, "Finalize the plans Reuben."

With a little yip of pleasure coming from behind her, a huge smile from her red-headed son and a very relieved manager grinning at her from across the table, Shirley pushed any remaining misgivings aside and tilted her head back to look at Laurie, "Do you want to tell Keith that the meeting is back on?"

"On my way mom, you won't regret this! You're the best!" Laurie hugged her mom from behind and headed up to Keith's room to share the good news.

"I'm regretting it already." Shirley mumbled into her coffee cup as Reuben cheerfully headed over to the phone on the kitchen wall to firm up the new plans with Kip and finalize all of the travel plans.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The whole family was on the front porch waiting for the taxi to arrive that would take Reuben, Keith, Laurie and Danny to the airport. Shirley was nervously giving last minute instructions to Reuben about her three oldest as they all stood there smiling patiently. When Shirley finally paused for a breath he cut in, "Shirley, they'll be fine. They're all old enough to take care of themselves and they'll all be looking out for each other. You raised them right. Don't worry."

"Oh Reuben, I know you're right. It's just that any mother worries when she's separated from any of her children much less 3 of her 5. Mother's worry – it's what we do best."

"We'll call as soon as we get checked in." Laurie assured her as the taxi pulled to the curb.

Keith grabbed a suitcase and two guitar cases while Danny grabbed his suitcase and another guitar case. Keith knew it was overkill, but he wanted to have all of his favorite guitars on hand for his audition. So, that meant an electric guitar and one each of a six and a twelve string acoustic. He just hoped the airline understood and let him bring on the extra carry-ons. Reuben said that in first class it wouldn't be a problem.

They were flying first class because Reuben had been concerned with getting Keith through the airport. The family was so used to traveling by bus that they weren't quite sure how a trip involving an airport would go. So, rather than taking any chances, Reuben had booked all first class tickets and they would get VIP treatment from start to finish.

Danny especially had been excited about this development. He even surmised that putting up with Keith might just be worth it – a teen idol older brother meant younger brothers got first class treatment. That was something he could learn to live with.

A last round of hugs and kisses were exchanged after the trunk was filled with luggage and guitar cases. The three kids piled into the back seat and Reuben sat up next to the driver for the drive to the airport. Shirley, Chris and Tracy stood at the front gate and waved until the car was out of site. Another moment of panic set in but she firmly pushed it aside as she herded Chris and Tracy back into the house. Everything would be fine, right?

When the taxi pulled to the curb at the airport, Reuben got out and hailed two porters for the luggage – one for checked luggage and one for their carry-ons. He next waved over airport security. With one more look around, he finally opened the back door to let Keith, Laurie and Danny out.

"Being a little paranoid, aren't you Mr. Kincaid?" Danny asked as he slid out first followed by Laurie and then Keith.

"I hope so." He replied as he turned to Keith. "Why didn't you wear a cap?"

"It would mess up his hair."

"Because I never do. What's the problem?" Keith answered while glaring at Danny for his smart aleck remark.

"Well, just keep your head down and don't make eye contact with anyone." Turning away from Keith he addressed the security Guard. "Shouldn't there be more of you?"

When all he got was a shrug and a, "I think I can handle walking three people to the first class lounge."

"I'll check the suitcases and meet you there. Go." Reuben shoved them in the right direction and headed toward the preferred customer line that was currently empty. Well that was a good start at least, he thought. Maybe everything would work out despite his nervousness. After all he had promised Shirley that he'd take care of everything.

Just as he finished his quick transaction and began to head in the direction of the first class lounge, he heard a series of screams echoing through the airport. "No, it couldn't.." he thought as he took off toward the sound hoping against hope to find his superstar had nothing to do with the sound.

It wasn't to be. Keith and Laurie were trapped against a wall about 50 feet from the first class lounge doors and were currently surrounded by a relatively small but very aggressive group of girls all begging for autographs and hoping to touch their favorite singer. In the few seconds it took Reuben to react, a few more girls figured out who was in the airport and were rushing over towards the growing group. Danny, the porter and the young security guard, who must be new to the job Reuben bitterly surmised, stood off to the side discussing their options.

Keith, having been given a pen by the security guard who had proven useless in all other aspects, was signing whatever found a spot in front of him in hopes of keeping the group calm. Laurie, being slim and limber, had grabbed the one guitar case Keith had insisted on carrying himself and snaked her way out of the group. Once free she made a beeline for the guard and began chastising the baffled looking young man.

"Oh, for Pete's sake." Reuben heard Laurie's disgusted comment as he walked up and took over.

"Call for help….on your radio." Reuben continued after the guard continued to look confused. Meanwhile, Reuben began to swim his way through the ever growing group of young ladies trying to get close enough to Keith to pull him out.

He caught Keith's grateful gaze just as he slid in next to him and put a little space between Keith and a couple of the more aggressive girls. "Alright ladies, you'll have to excuse us now. Keith has a flight to catch. Thanks for your interest and watch for the new album early next year." Reuben kept talking as he smoothly started sliding Keith towards the lounge doors. He noticed that Laurie and Danny were standing just outside the tinted glass doors and he waved them in so that he wouldn't have to deal with them being in the way once he actually got Keith close enough to slide through that oh so important portal.

As Laurie and Danny disappeared behind the closing door, Reuben saw four more security guards finally arrive on the scene. The oldest guard, obviously used to taking charge, spoke loudly and very calmly, "Alright young ladies, let 'em through. Can't have him missing his flight. That's it just make a hole. There you go. That's it."

And, just like that, Keith and Reuben were through the door. "You alright kid?" Reuben asked as he looked over his singer.

"Yeah" Keith blew out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for 5 minutes. "Wasn't quite sure how that was going to end up for a few minutes there. Thanks for getting me out of there."

The head security guard slid through the door just as Laurie and Danny rushed up. "You alright?" Laurie asked a little shook up herself as she had been caught in the crowd for a few minutes herself. At Keith's nod she turned on the security guard and flayed him with her wrath. "You call yourself a security guard? How could you let that happen? Your job is to make sure that all the airport passengers are safe and my brothers and I almost got trampled while you send a young inexperienced….boy (even in her anger Laurie refused to swear or use a derogatory term) to do what you should have personally taken care of yourself."

"I'm very sorry Miss Partridge." The security guard was quite cowed by the very beautiful yet outraged young woman standing in front of him reading him the riot act. "I had instructed the young officer to let me know when you arrived, but he wanted to prove his abilities and decided to handle it himself. He won't be making that mistake again, I can assure you. Please accept my apologies."

"Well just don't let it happen again." The wind was quickly leaving Laurie's sails and she wilted rather quickly into Reuben's waiting shoulder, more shook up than she'd realized.

As the guard walked away Danny made his presence known again, "Wow, that was really cool Laurie! The way you laid into him. Even mom would have been impressed."

"Well, if he had simply done his job…." Laurie was really quite embarrassed now.

"You sure you're alright? I thought you might get hurt trying to get out of the way." Keith said as he looked her over for her own injuries.

"Fine, Keith. Now I know why we don't usually travel by plane."

"How are my guitars?" Once Keith knew Laurie was ok, he was on to the next most important thing to him other than his family and that was his music.

"Well, at least I rate above his guitars." Laurie said quietly to Reuben who was standing next to her checking her for injuries himself.

"Not by much." Danny quipped very happy to see both of his siblings were ok after their little adventure.

To avoid another incident, they were allowed to board well before the rest of the passengers were boarded and the curtain had been tightly drawn between coach and first class. There was still a small murmur of excitement from the flight attendants once they realized who was on board, but they were professionals after all. Everyone was jealous of the more senior attendants who got to work first class but what could they do. They did sneak peeks through the curtain as often as possible just trying to catch a glimpse of their famous passengers – with hopes of seeing Keith above all. Several dreamy sighs were heard as the attendants were shooed away one by one at different times prior to and during the 5 hour flight.

Once they had taken off, Danny moved to the last row of seats as they were the only first class passengers on the flight. 'To spread out' was the reason he gave Reuben but he really wanted to be able to eavesdrop on the stewardesses in the galley. Danny planned to overhear every sigh of longing and whispered conversation had in relation to his brother by the young women working the flight from San Francisco to Miami. He couldn't help but roll his eyes on several occasions. He'd never admit it, but he was secretly a little jealous of his brother's popularity with the females of the human race. He made notes so that he could tease Keith mercilessly once they landed. He knew that Keith was often embarrassed when other family members noticed the adoration he received and Danny couldn't resist rubbing it in. The conversations he overheard were great fodder for future teasing.

Shortly after take off, Keith sitting in the window seat next to Laurie asked for a pillow and proceeded to catch up on some of the much needed sleep that he had skipped the previous night. This lead to the following conversation:

"So, Lisa, what's he like?" Danny heard a disembodied voice ask behind him right after their attendant had ducked through the curtain to get Reuben's coffee.

"All he's done so far is asked for a pillow. Shortly after that, he zonked out." Lisa, who was in her mid-thirties didn't really get the whole 'he's dreamy' thing that the younger attendants were going on about. I mean, he was cute and all, but way too young for her.

"Oh, I bet he's just adorable. Does he snore?" The question was asked with dread.

"Not so far. I'll let you know if he drools or talks in his sleep." Lisa shot over her shoulder as she headed back with her tray of drinks. That comment made Danny smirk.

There was more of the same over the next hour, but with Keith sleeping there was nothing new. Danny might have to do something to change that.

Danny got up and moved up next to Reuben, "Hey Mr. Kincaid, maybe we should practice a couple of numbers or something. Seeing there's no one else in first class and all. What do you say?"

Reuben glanced across the aisle at a sleeping Keith and shot Danny down by saying, "How are you supposed to practice on a plane?"

"Well, Keith does have his guitars along."

"Yes, but he's sleeping. Besides, you aren't going to be performing for Mr. Randall so there's no need for extra practice."

"Yeah, but Keith is. Shouldn't he be practicing?" Danny tried again. If Keith kept sleeping he wasn't going to get anything good out of the stewardesses.

"Leave your brother alone Danny." Reuben warned feeling more like a parent than a manager.

Temporarily defeated, Danny returned to his seat and his comic book.

He went over several devious plans trying to come up with ways to wake Keith up without getting into trouble. Every single one he shot down as too risky. After another half hour of planning, Danny was assisted by a divine hand. Prayer was one option he hadn't thought of yet, but God must have been listening anyway. As they left the Rockies, they flew along the edges of a big summer storm. The flight became very bumpy and a little scary for some of the more nervous travelers. But, as Danny's luck would have it, the planes shudders woke Keith up from his relatively short nap.

Keith looked over at Laurie and asked her for the second time that day, "What time is it?"

"That depends; do you want home time or the time that it is for where we are?" Laurie said baffling Keith's sleep addled brain.

"Ok, scratch that. How long have we been in the air?" Keith tried a different tack hoping he could make more sense of Laurie's answer.

"Not quite two hours sleepy head."

"Not nearly enough, but with this ride it's not likely that I'll get much sleep for a while." Just then he saw Lisa walk by, "Excuse me, could I get some coffee?" He asked politely.

"Sure thing. Be right back." Lisa continued down the aisle.

"If I can't sleep I may as well be awake, right?"

"Mmmmm." Laurie was already back to reading her magazine.

After several cups of coffee, Keith was finally awake and in need of the facilities. He slid past Laurie and made his way into the aisle. The ride wasn't as rough anymore, but they still occasionally wiggled a bit. On his way back to his seat he asked Lisa where his guitars were being stored and she took him to a small closet area. As he was about to grab the case of his 6 string acoustic and head back to his seat, one of the younger stewardesses who was coming back from taking coffee to the pilots was making her way back through first class. Just as she was about to pass, the plane hit another bit of turbulence causing Keith and the young lady to end up plastered against the wall together. "Oh, excuse me." She said rather embarrassed as she was the one who had pasted Keith rather effectively against the wall.

His arms instinctively went around the very attractive young woman and he grinned at her. "No problem."

She just stared into his laughing hazel eyes and blushed. She was too embarrassed to say another word and too flustered to realize that she would need to be the one to step back in order to get them untangled. Keith's grin grew even bigger but he wasn't about to tell her to move. The young ladies eyes drifted down to Keith's grinning mouth and she swallowed heavily.

Reuben had glanced up when he'd seen movement in front of him and noticed Keith's pleasant predicament. He looked over at Laurie and said, "Looks like Keith's heart ache has just turned into new love."

Reuben nodded his head towards Keith and the stewardess as his comment brought Laurie's eyes up from her magazine. "Guess it's true what they say about 'there's always more fish in the sea'."

"Yeah, especially when your fame allows you to have your pick from several oceans." Reuben's almost jealous remark brought a smile to Laurie's face. She'd become quite used to the stir her brother caused as she witnessed his effect on females of almost any age on a daily basis.

"Lyla!" Lisa scolded as she walked up to see one of her passengers in a clinch with one of her attendants.

Lyla scrambled away from Keith and stammered another 'excuse me' as she headed past a flabbergasted Lisa.

"Are you alright?" Lisa asked Keith as she watched Lyla push through the curtain.

"Me? Couldn't be better." Keith grinned again grabbed his guitar and headed towards his seat.

Danny an avid witness to the whole incident peaked through the curtain Lyla had just rushed through to find her standing in the galley fanning herself with a cloth napkin and breathing heavily. As he watched her try to recover her senses, another attendant entered the area. "What happened to you?"

Lyla jumped and then laughed happily, "Oh nothing special – I just bumped into our most famous passenger in first class…." She left it hanging.

"Oh my god!" Came the reply. "What happened?!? Spill!"

"Well, HE was up getting something from the luggage storage area and there was some turbulence. Next thing you know, I have him pinned against the wall. Oh, Shelley, it was the best 30 seconds of my life! He just grinned at me. I think he was enjoying himself way too much…..but then again, so was I."

"What else?"

"Well, he has the most beautiful eyes. Oh and that grin…..I thought I was going to melt into a puddle at his feet. And the voice…..when I apologized he said 'no problem'. I have never heard anything so sexy in my life." She was fanning herself again as she relived the recent incident.

"You are so lucky! I 'call' the next coffee order to the cockpit!" Shelley grinned conspiratorially to Lyla.

Danny was writing frantically in his little notebook. Oh, this was really great stuff. Keith was really going to squirm – Danny would wait until Keith didn't want to talk about girls fawning all over him, like the next time he brought a date home. Oh, this was going to be priceless.

The rest of the flight, Danny was kept busy by the seemingly too frequent trips to the cockpit with beverages made by several stewardesses and the resulting conversations about what Keith was doing each time one of them walked through. Laurie and Keith didn't seem to notice as they were talking about the new song, arrangement possibilities and ideas for the lyrics. Though ultimately Keith would compose the song on his own, he'd found that bouncing ideas off of Laurie tended to speed the process along.

Danny's final interruption was a splendid dinner served by Lisa on fine china. Fifteen minutes after the dinner trays were collected, the 'fasten seatbelt' sign was turned on and the captain announced that they were approaching Miami airport and would be landing in the next 10 minutes.

Reuben pulled Lisa aside and asked her to have the captain radio ahead for security to meet them at the gate. He did not want a repeat performance of what happened in San Francisco to happen in Miami.

This time they waited until everyone else had disembarked and then they headed to the exit. At the exit, all of the stewardesses waited for a glimpse of Keith as Lyla's story had made the rounds and those who hadn't been able to make a trip to the cockpit during the flight all wanted to see him in person.

As Keith walked by carrying two of his guitars, he caught Lyla's eye and gave her a wink and a grin. He had no idea the effect he left in his wake.

As he stepped out of the plane onto the steps leading down to the tarmac, he, Laurie and Danny were greeted by a couple hundred screaming teens but plenty of security to hold them at bay. His guitar cases were whisked away into the limousine that waited for them so that he could wave to the crowd.

Reuben was the last one in the car and he told the driver to make sure no one was tailing them. He didn't want anyone to know what hotel they were staying in. They sped off in luxury.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

They were shown to one of the two suites that shared the top floor of the hotel. Danny thought it especially cool that you needed a special key and a special elevator to access the suite of rooms. He also thought it very cool that there were two doors in the elevator, one in back and one in front. One door opened directly into each of the suites depending on the key you had. Both suites had large balconies and panoramic views of the beach on one side and the city on the other. After a little exploring, Danny very loudly discovered that one of the balconies contained a private Jacuzzi.

The suite had a large living area with a baby grand piano, wet bar and fireplace. Why you would need a fireplace in Florida was a question that crossed all of their minds though no one voiced it. The suite also had 4 bedrooms, so Reuben, Keith, Laurie and Danny each took one of the rooms. When Shirley arrived with Chris and Tracy, Reuben would move to his own room in another part of the hotel and Danny and Laurie would end up sharing their rooms. But for now, they would each get lots of privacy.

"Let's call Mom. I can't wait to tell her about the accommodations. They're groovy!" Laurie said coming back out into the living area.

"Alright, but let's keep it to a minimum, long distance calls aren't cheap you know." Reuben reminded everyone.

"Aw, Mr. Kincaid, don't worry about it. The room is on Kip, remember?" Danny reminded him as Reuben stepped out onto the balcony to check out the view.

"Well, it's still not nice to take advantage of people so go get Keith before we place the call." Laurie lightly pushed Danny in the direction on Keith's room.

"Hey Keith!" Danny yelled as he stepped through the door to Keith's room only to find him asleep on the bed with his feet still on the floor. It looked like he had sat on the bed and fell backwards into a dead sleep which wasn't too far from the truth. "Wake up Keith! We're going to call Mom."

Keith was jarred awake by Danny bouncing on the bed next to him. "mmmph. Knock it off Danny."

"Kinda grumpy aren't ya?" Danny showed no remorse as he continued to bounce in hopes of getting Keith up. However, he was smart enough to move a little further away in case his brother made any sudden moves.

"You would be too if all you got were short cat naps all day." Keith slowly pulled himself back up to a seated position but hadn't opened his eyes yet.

After about a minute of sitting there with his eyes closed Danny could tell that he was about to fall back asleep so he got off the bed, stood up straight, drew in a deep breath and yelled at the top of his singing conditioned lungs, "Fall out Partridge!"

That brought Keith's eyes open very quickly. The sleepy surprise dissolving into a nasty glare aimed directly at his red headed brother.

"What's with all the racket?" Laurie came around the corner curious to know why Danny was making so much noise. She got her answer in the hilarious picture that met her eyes – Danny turning towards her to smile angelically and Keith glaring daggers at him while reaching for the pillow at the head of bed. Before anyone could even think of answering Laurie's question, the side of Danny's head was met rather squarely by the sailing pillow.

"That'll teach you to interrupt my sleep." Keith mumbled and looked like he was about to fall back into a heap.

"Oh no sleeping beauty." Laurie said as she quickly grabbed his sagging shoulder. "Get up, we're going to call Mom and you know she'll want to hear all of our voices or she won't sleep tonight. Up you go."

"Rather her sleep is interrupted than mine. At least she got a full night sleep last night." Keith said quietly as he tried to fall back on the bed once more.

"Fat chance, brother dear. You know I'd rather ruin your day than Mom's." When that didn't seem to work either she tried threats, "I'll tell Danny your new hiding place for all your girlie magazines." Laurie whispered in Keith's ear.

For that threat she herself received a one-eyed glare before Keith pushed himself off the bed and walked into the living area. "Alright, where's the phone…."

Laurie and Danny smiled triumphantly at each other and followed Keith into the outer room. "Over on the wet bar." Laurie waved her hand at the object in the far corner of the room.

A few short minutes later they were all taking turns talking to their mom and assuring her that things were great and they were all perfectly fine even if she wasn't there to take care of them. Reuben had moved back into the room and took his turn last. After a few minutes he rung off with "……I'll take them down to dinner right now and get them to bed early. Don't worry Shirley; I'll take care of them as if they were my own. We'll call you on Tuesday before you get on the plane with an update on how things went with Kip. Bye."

As Reuben placed the phone back in the cradle he turned to his charges, "I'm still kind of full from the meal on the plane is anyone else hungry?"

"You mean you lied to Mom about taking us out to dinner? Mr. Kincaid, where are your ethics." Danny ribbed him as was his want.

"Look, it's not like I'm committing child abuse by starving you to death. I'm just not going to feed you when you can't possibly be hungry again." Reuben's whole hairline lowered in a frown at his nemesis.

"Who says I'm not hungry?" Danny smirked.

"You can't possibly be…..can he?" Reuben looked to Laurie for affirmation.

"Oh, you'd be surprised. I've seen him eat his weight in cheeseburgers several different times and let's not even talk about ice cream." Laurie shot down Reuben's hopeful question.

"Alright, how's about we go out for some ice cream and then call it an early night." Reuben said.

"But it's already 9:00 here. Remember we lost 3 hours today." Danny reminded him. "So actually if we go out for ice cream we'll be getting back pretty late."

"Haha funny man. Go wash your hands and we'll head out to the hotel restaurant for some ice cream or whatever you kids want. Keith can you stay awake a little longer, I'd like to talk a little bit about what Kip expects on Monday. We only have tomorrow to plan how to handle it." Reuben looked at Keith who was sitting on a bar stool half asleep again.

"Handle what?" Keith had perked up at the mention of Kip but still looked completely exhausted. "You know, now that you mention it how is this going to work without mom here. I was so wrapped up in the new song that whole thing kinda slipped my mind."

"Let's get some coffee in you and we can talk about it." Reuben said just as Danny came back into the room. "Alright troops, let's head out."

xoxo

Danny was gorging himself on the largest banana split any of them had ever seen while Reuben, Laurie and Keith had all just ordered coffee, 'and maybe just a little piece of apple pie' for Reuben at the last second as the waitress was walking away.

It was when the middle aged waitress came back to top off their coffee cups that she finally recognized them, 'hey you're Keith Partridge aren't you? Your picture is all over my daughter's bedroom.' she said as she filled his cup and then looking at Laurie as she refilled her cup was followed by "and you must be Laurie Partridge. You're prettier than your pictures on the albums."

She continued with, "My kids are such big fans! I had no idea you were going to be in town. Are you performing somewhere? Oh my girl Natalie would kill me if I didn't get tickets…"

Reuben stopped her from going any further by raising his hand and saying, "no actually, the family is on vacation. There's no performance. Just a little down time before school starts."

"Would you mind if I got your autographs for my kids?" She asked a little shyly. "They listen to your records all the time. Oh, and Danny I have a son just your age who wants to be you in another life."

"We'd be happy to." Laurie smiled at the waitress who had become more nervous as the reality of who she was serving finally set in. "Do you have anything for us to sign?"

She grabbed one of the dessert menus and flipped it to the back page which was mostly blank. "How's this?"

All three signed their names and personalized it for her three kids. "Oh thank you so much! I'll just leave you alone now and be back to check on you a little later. Thanks again!"

Thankfully the restaurant was very quiet for that time of night and no one else had noticed that they were in the presence of celebrities. It also helped that Keith and Laurie, the two most recognizable, were facing the wall. So, their anonymity in tact, Reuben and Keith began discussing how things would work with Kip on Monday.

"So, there's no change to the first part of the meetings. You'll still go to the studio and talk song writing, arrangement and recording philosophy. The difference will be the performance end. He expects you to perform live." Reuben waited to see Keith's reaction.

"Live?" Keith looked very surprised and confused. "How am I supposed to perform live by myself?"

"Reuben, that makes no sense." Laurie added just as confused as Keith. "Mr. Randall knows that Mom and Chris and Tracy won't be there. I mean, Danny and I can play, but without drums it will be impossible."

"Ok, Danny, pay attention. I need the three of you to promise me that you won't say anything to your mother until this is over and done with." Reuben looked intently at each one of them in turn. "Can you do that for me?"

"Reuben, you know none of us will lie to mom. So don't even ask." Keith said throwing his head back in anger.

"Now, just a minute. Hear me out. I'm not asking you to lie. In fact, you can tell her anything and everything you want – just after Monday." Reuben tried to mollify all three Partridges who were looking very disappointed in him.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of this." Laurie said quietly but waited to hear him out. After all he had been their manager for over a year and had always had their best interest at heart.

"Kip expects Keith to perform with the house band at the night club here at the hotel." Reuben said it quickly and without pausing for a breath continued, "It's the only way I could keep this meeting. You all know how important it is for the future of this group to have Kip produce even one song much less possibly a whole album. With his help, we could start getting gigs in much larger venues. Bigger venues, more album sales all add up to more money…..For your college funds. So your mom doesn't have to ever worry about the future again. Can you really pass that up just because the place where Keith needs to perform isn't exactly what was originally agreed upon?"

He let the kids absorb what he had said. He looked at Danny and could see the calculator running tape totals in his head. He looked at Laurie and saw conflict – on the one hand she wanted to help make her family's future solid but could not see lying to her mother even for the good of the family. Keith was harder to read. His face was perfectly blank as he stared at a spot over Reuben's shoulder. It was a question of who would work this out in their head first as to who would be the first to talk. His money was on Danny.

"So if we keep our mouths shut and Keith impresses the bejeebers out of Kip Randall, we start playing Madison Square Garden and the Los Angeles Coliseum?" Danny asked. Bingo, Reuben wished he could have placed money on that bet. He'd be a rich man.

"Well not right away, but after the new album comes out and sales increase, then eventually, yeah, those venues would likely be possible stops on the next summer tour." Reuben hated to possibly jinx the situation but having Danny as an ally was important to get Laurie and Keith on his side too. By himself against the three of them he didn't stand a chance. He still wasn't sure where Keith and Laurie would fall on this decision tree.

"Reuben, you're forgetting one small problem. Keith's only 17 – he can't go into the club." Laurie thought she had come up with the perfect way to spike this problem without actually either having to lie to her mother or disappoint Reuben.

"He can as a performer. He just can't go in as a patron. It happens all the time." Reuben gently reminded her. "The family often performs at dinner clubs that serve alcohol. Besides he could get in with a parent or guardian - in this case his manager, me."

"Oh" Laurie said as she gnawed lightly on her thumb nail, "Well, Keith, what's your opinion on all this."

All eyes swung toward Keith who had yet to even look away from the spot on the wall so deep in thought was he. After hearing his name he looked at Laurie as if coming out of a deep trance. "What?"

"Keith, do you want to perform at the club on Monday night, without us?" Laurie asked.

"No way, we're the Partridge family not Keith Partridge and his Family." Keith assured his sister.

Reuben could have argued the fact that just because the name was the Partridge Family, the family's true fame was due to Keith. He was the sound of the family and would likely have just as much success if not more if he decided to branch out on his own. "Look Keith I know it's not ideal, but it's what Kip suggested. And, if you think about it, he isn't being completely unreasonable. After all, this is his second choice after WE had to back out of the first arrangement."

"Reuben, how am I supposed to perform with other people I've never met before? Would we perform our songs or other material? If it's other material, well, obviously I haven't practiced anything besides our stuff for well over a year. Geez, could you have sprung this on me a little later in the game?" Keith was feeling very insecure with good cause.

"Sorry Keith, but I think that's part of the reason Kip wants to do it this way. He wants to see how adaptable you are. How quickly you learn. How easily you pick up on ideas and concepts thrown out there by someone unknown. It's the way he works. He needs to know that you can work with him." Reuben was really starting to feel bad now. He remembered telling Shirley that he would take care of the kids and that he would make sure that Keith didn't suffer too much anxiety over this whole situation. Right now that certainly was not the case.

Reuben continued once he realized that his last comments had given Keith even more to think about, "Not only does he want you to perform with the house band, but he wants you to play several instruments as well. He wants to gauge the level of your musical talent."

There, the last surprise had been sprung and Keith hadn't run out of the restaurant screaming. One hurdle crossed. Well almost crossed as Keith stood up saying, "I'll be right back" and headed towards the men's room.

Once again, Reuben waited to see who would be the first of the two remaining Partridges to respond after this latest bomb he'd dropped. He'd place his money on Danny again.

This time he'd have lost. "Reuben," Laurie started, "have you completely lost your marbles? We all know that Keith can play several instruments, very well. After all he taught all of us how to play, but to put him in front of a live audience without any practice. Are you completely crazy? You wouldn't do that to someone who's been performing for 20 years much less a teenager."

"He'll have time to practice with the band on Monday in the studio. All of the members are studio musicians trying to make extra money by playing cover music on the week days at the club. And, actually Laurie, I'm hoping Keith's youth will help him. He doesn't have enough experience to be scared. If we help to build up his confidence he'll just go out there and perform to the best of his ability. No subconscious fears to deal with. He'll just go out there with all that raw talent he has and blow everyone away. It won't be perfect, but with his rare talent for giving his all to a live performance he'll be a smash. So much of performing is charisma – he's got that in spades. His talent is good enough to pull the rest off without a hitch." Reuben truly believed in his young performer and hoped that Danny and Laurie would help him to get Keith to see that he could do this and do it well.

"Look, he's my brother and I love him. I also happen to be one of his biggest fans. I admit he has loads of talent and I've seen his effect on audiences. I know he has that special something that big stars are made of, but seriously Reuben a new band, new songs and almost no practice?" Laurie still couldn't get past her own doubts and fears.

"Actually Laurie," Danny finally decided to chime in, "I think Reuben may be right. You've admitted yourself that Keith has the talent. All he might be missing is self-confidence and I think we can help him with that. In fact, it's our duty – we promised mom we'd be there for moral support. We just need to stay completely positive no matter what he says. You know positive reinforcement – it's mentioned in all of my self-improvement books on how to become rich. Any time you start doubting yourself find positive reinforcement."

"Sounds logical." Laurie agreed starting to see the possibilities in Reuben's plan.

"Well, here comes Keith now, remember only positive reinforcement if he decides to do this. Right gang?" Reuben felt like a cheerleader.

"Right!" They both chimed as Keith sat back down.

"Right, what?" Keith asked still looking slightly dazed. It was a lot to take in considering he was expecting things to have ended much differently.

"Right, it's your decision." Danny supplied a reasonable explanation of their words.

"Oh, great." Keith said with little enthusiasm. "How long do I have to think about this?"

"Well, I suppose all the way up to the time of performance. If you decide not to go on, the band will just perform as usual. Of course, Mr. Randall may decide that means you don't want him to work with the family on the next album. But, no pressure." Reuben tried to make it sound like it didn't matter, yet it came off all wrong.

"That's reassuring. Really, thanks a lot." Keith said sarcasm dripping from each word. "I'm going back to the suite to get some sleep. I can't even process this right now I'm so tired. See you all later." And on that Keith walked away from the other three.

xoxo

At the front of the restaurant in a booth Lyla, Lisa and Shelley were sitting having a late night snack themselves. They finished up and started walking out just as the conversation in the back of the restaurant was drawing to a close. Lyla had gone back to the table to leave the tip once they'd gotten change from paying their bill. Just as she turned from the table she walked right into Keith as he was walking out of the restaurant. As absorbed as he was with his recent news, Keith never saw her standing there and never had a chance of getting out of the way.

It was déjà vu all over again – Lyla and Keith were plastered together. But, this time Keith had pinned Lyla against the side of the booth.

The collision brought Keith out of his deep thoughts and it only took him a second to recognize the girl he held in his arms for a second time in a few short hours. He remembered the deep brown eyes, the long flowing black hair and stunning features that made this particular female readily recognizable to any red blooded male. He also remembered how great she felt in his arms too.

"Isn't this where we came in last time?" Keith asked with wry humor edging his voice.

"It does seem a little familiar." Lyla agreed enjoying the close proximity once again herself.

"You know, I always try to make it a point to know the name of the beautiful girl I'm holding in my arms…" Keith trailed off waiting for her response.

"It's Lyla. Lyla Brooks." She looked at Keith through her eyelashes enjoying another opportunity to flirt.

"Very pretty – just like its owner." Keith backed off and swung his arm out towards the front of the restaurant, "After you Lyla."

Lyla liked the sound of her name on his lips and, tossing a saucy smile over her shoulder, she began walking out of the restaurant. "I assume your staying at this hotel too?" To Keith's positive nod she added, "Walk me to the elevator?"

"It would be my pleasure." Keith smiled and watched the very attractive female in her very short stewardess skirt sashay away from him.

Back at the table Danny noticed the goings-on and couldn't help but roll his eyes. Only his Casanova brother could be dog tired, completely lost in a problem and still flirt with a pretty girl.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As Lyla and Keith made their way to the bank of elevators, they continued to exchange small talk. "How long are you in town for?"

"A week, my family is taking a vacation before school starts. You?"

"I'm only here until tomorrow. I have to work a flight to New York but I'll be back in town on Monday. Then I have a couple of days before a flight to Dallas. When are you flying back to San Francisco?" Lyla slowed down realizing that they were fast approaching the elevators and likely the end of the conversation.

"Next Saturday. Will you be working that flight?" Keith asked as he slowed down too.

"I think so." She made a mental note to herself to make sure to check the flight manifests to find out which flight Keith and his family would be taking back home. She wanted to make sure that if she wasn't currently scheduled to work that flight that she would be once she was done trading her soul to whichever fellow stewardess would trade her for the privilege. "So, Keith, how would you like to come up to my…." Lyla's question was cut short when they were interrupted by a male voice.

"Keith Partridge! Hey man, I'm glad I ran into you. It's Kip Randall." The attractive man approaching them looked to be in his late-twenties and definitely had an air of authority about him. He extended his hand as he reached the couple.

"Mr. Randall. Wow, I had no idea you were in town." Keith grabbed the man's hand and shook it firmly.

"Only for the night. I'm flying over to Naples to look at some property for another hotel on the west side of the state. Who's this lovely lady?" Kip turned his gaze to Lyla.

"Kip Randall, meet Lyla Brooks. Lyla this is Kip Randall one of the most sought after record producers in the industry." Keith said.

"Nice to meet you. And thanks for the accolades." Kip's gaze moved back to Keith after he shook Lyla's hand. "Do you mind if I steal your young man for a little while? We have a lot to talk about. I'd like to talk to you about Monday."

"Oh, sure. No problem. Keith maybe we can hook up later?" Lyla said as she realized her golden opportunity had passed to spend some quality time with Keith before she flew out in the morning.

"I'd like that. Just leave a message at the front desk when you get back in town." Keith smiled a little sadly as Lyla proceeded by herself to the elevators. He had thought she was about to ask him to escort her all the way up to her room and then….well, it sure wasn't going to happen now.

"Let's head over to the restaurant for some coffee." Kip's comment forced Keith's attention back to the producer and once again he was headed to the restaurant when five minutes ago all he'd really wanted to do was catch some sleep. Much more coffee and he probably wouldn't sleep for another 48 hours even though he was dog tired.

Just before they reached the restaurant entrance, they ran into Reuben, Laurie and Danny who were headed out. More greetings were exchanged and the five of them headed back to restaurant to talk business.

xoxo

Three hours later, Keith lay awake in the softer than expected hotel bed. The caffeine running through his veins made it impossible to get the sleep that his body craved. His mind was spinning with all of the things Kip Randall had talked about over the course of two hours. If there was one good result of meeting up with Kip on Saturday night rather than waiting for Monday was that he'd have more time to practice with the house band. They'd talked song writing and arrangements tonight already so that was out of the way. Kip thought it best as his trip to Naples was likely to last longer than expected and he didn't think he'd be getting back until later Monday – just in time to see Keith perform. Kip had informed Reuben that the club manager had a private office that looked down on the night club so if Laurie and Danny wanted to see Keith's performance they could do so by going there. No under age rules would have to be broken for the two of them at least.

Kip's idea was to have Keith perform cover songs incognito while playing the drums, bass, piano and guitar. Keith could decide which songs he wanted to perform on each instrument based upon his comfort level. Then, at the end of the set, his identity would be revealed and he would perform several songs from the Partridge Family catalog – backed up by the cover band, of course.

Kip had even acquiesced when Keith asked if Laurie could join him on stage to play during the last part of the set. He said it would make him feel better knowing that at least one person in the band was equally as familiar with the Partridge tunes. Especially as they intended to play "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" and he preferred that Laurie be in charge of the prerecorded soundtrack they used for the heartbeat sound. Over time their timing had become flawless and it needed to be to pull it off, the cross between prerecorded and live. Danny hadn't been pleased with being left out but had settled down knowing he would at least be a witness to the entire event from the manager's office.

After lying awake for another half hour Keith got up, grabbed his robe and headed out of the bedroom that had become a torture chamber filled with too many thoughts. Music had always soothed him before so he headed for the piano. He ran his fingers softly over the keys, playing aimlessly, tunelessly for a short while. Finally his fingers began to pick out snippets of songs instead of random notes. He played "Let it Be" by the Beatles and softly sang along.

In her room, Laurie had been having trouble sleeping too. At first she thought she was hearing things, but eventually she realized that Keith must be out in the living area trying to find solace in music. She walked to the door pulling on her robe. For the second time in two days, Laurie stood unnoticed behind her brother and listened to him play. This time he wasn't composing his own music but playing someone else's. It had been a long time since he'd had time to play any music other than that which the family performed. It made her realize all over again just how talented her brother truly was. He was playing 'Let it Be' flawlessly from memory as there was no sheet music on the piano. It would have been impossible to read sheet music anyway as the room was quite dark, lit only by the glow of city lights through the tinted windows.

Not wanting to startle him unnecessarily, Laurie made a bit of noise as she walked up behind him. As she sat down next time him, Keith looked over at her tiredly, "I didn't wake you did I?"

"No, I wasn't really sleeping." Laurie assured him. "That was very good, brother dear."

"Thanks, just noodling around with some possible songs to play on Monday. Any ideas?"

"Sure, anything by your idol Hendrix would be very good. Also, the Stones, Clapton and Alice Cooper would be options. And, of course, the Beatles – that version of Let it Be was beautiful." Laurie picked some of Keith's favorite bands and performers. She knew that his tastes ran heavier than the Family music they performed and thought it would be perfect choices for the songs he would play while no one knew who he was.

"You think so? It's so different from our stuff." Keith seemed intrigued by her suggestions but wasn't sure if he should swing so far from their usual fare.

"That's what makes it perfect. Not only are you showing Kip Randall your range, but you can actually play something that you normally would never have the chance to perform." Laurie assured him. "Besides, you listen to it every chance you get so it won't be too hard for you to pick it up on short notice."

"Good point." Keith sighed heavily and asked, "Just how am I supposed to perform songs I've never performed in front of a live audience in two days? Am I nuts for even considering trying?"

"Keith don't doubt yourself. You are a truly talented musician." Laurie was trying some of that positive reinforcement that Danny suggested.

"All kidding aside, right?" Keith couldn't help reminding her that every single member of the family except for mom had criticized his talent at one time or another.

"Keith, all of that joking around is just that. We're all secretly jealous that you can play every single one of our instruments better than we can ourselves." Laurie ruefully admitted.

"Now you're just pulling my leg." Keith was sure that Laurie had to be kidding.

"Keith I'm not pulling your leg and if you want to, we could go wake Danny up and tickle him into telling the truth." Laurie suggested playfully.

"Hmmm…..maybe later. It's nice not having him around right now. He'd probably just insult me with the next comment out of his mouth – after you tortured the truth out of him that is." Keith smiled into the darkness.

"Do you think you can sleep now?" Laurie really thought what her brother needed most to calm his fears was a good nights sleep. Everyone's anxieties raged higher when they were tired. "You know this will all look much clearer after you've slept on it. Especially considering you haven't really slept in almost 2 days."

"Yeah, thanks Laurie. I'll give that sleep idea a shot. 'Night." Keith said as he watched Laurie walk to her room and headed towards his own.

This time when he lay down, he drifted off in seconds.

xoxo

Keith slept deeply until almost noon. After he'd showered and dressed he headed into the living area of the suite only to find it empty. He found a note propped on the wet bar against an empty tumbler. 'Went to the beach – be back for lunch. L'

Just as he set the note down he heard the elevator bell and the doors slid open sending Reuben, Laurie and Danny spilling into the suite. "Hey sleepy head, you're up." Danny cracked as soon as he saw Keith.

"Yeah, I guess I really needed it." Keith answered ruefully.

"You hungry?" Reuben asked. When Keith nodded he continued, "Well, give us a few minutes to clean up and we'll all head out for some lunch." 

Keith finally got a good look at their normally buttoned-down manager; he was wearing shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt. He looked relaxed. Keith briefly thought that the look suited him probably better than his normal suit and tie. Well, it _was_ Reuben's vacation too.

Fifteen minutes later the four of them headed down to the same hotel restaurant. They were shown to almost the same exact table in the back. Once again Reuben maneuvered it so that Laurie and Keith faced the back so they wouldn't be easily recognized. Unfortunately, this time their waitress was a young woman who actually squealed when she realized who she would be serving. This loud display brought unwanted attention to the group and they were forced to sign several autographs before they even got a chance to look at their menus.

Reuben snuck off while the three eldest Partridge kids smiled sweetly and signed whatever was placed in front of them. They chatted up the 20 or so fans that had surrounded them until Reuben walked up with the restaurant manager who very quickly dispersed the small crowd saying 'let's let them have their lunch undisturbed.'

Reuben nodded thankfully to the man and sat back down. The restaurant manager helped matters out by sending the same waitress from the night before to take their orders. The earlier waitress was giddily showing her autographed order pad to whoever would listen. Not yet realizing that she had missed out on a golden opportunity to serve her celebrity crush his lunch.

Once their food had arrived, the discussion turned to Keith's upcoming dilemma. Selecting the songs he would perform tomorrow night. "I vote for anything from the Sounds of Music or Oklahoma." Danny suggested with a big grin letting everyone know he was kidding.

"Haha funny man." Keith went along with his brothers kidding.

"How about Cherish?" Laurie suggested. "I've heard you singing that one in the shower. You know, the one by The Association."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea." Reuben added once he'd thought about it. "You could even sing that one before you start singing your own stuff. You know, to give Kip a sense for your singing range. The family doesn't have a song like that."

"I'm not so sure…" Keith wasn't thrilled with singing anything he hadn't practiced the heck out of first.

"Come on Keith, even I've heard you singing that one in the shower." Danny added. "Not half bad either."

This time Keith just pulled a face at him instead of responding.

"Well, let's run it past the guys from the band. In fact, finish up everyone," Reuben said looking at his watch. "We're supposed to be in the club for some practice with the band in 15 minutes."

Everyone settled into finishing their meals and headed out with 5 minutes to spare.

xoxo

The club had the house lights up and looked very different from when it was open to the public. During the daylight hours this club looked like most clubs do in bright lights – rather drab and normal. But once the lights were dimmed and the stage lights were the brightest lights in the room, things looked much more glitzy and glamorous. The Partridges had seen this many times before so they didn't even pause to notice. However, the few club employees walking around setting up for the evening rush were able to recognize the new entrants very easily under the bright overhead lights.

"Hey, you must be Keith Partridge!" A young man with longish blond hair in jeans and a t-shirt walked up. "I'm Iggy, Steve Ignatowski to my parents. I'm the lead singer for The Electric Eels."

"The Electric What?" Danny asked.

"Eels, Danny." Laurie elbowed her brother and smiled sweetly at the attractive young man.

Keith shook hands with Iggy and said, "yeah, nice to meet you."

"So, how much extra are they paying you to let my brother play with you guys tomorrow night?" Danny cracked.

"Ah, you must be Danny. Kip told me about you on the phone last night." Iggy winked at Danny.

"Then I'm sure your impression of us isn't very good." Reuben couldn't help but add his two cents.

That brought a round of laughs from everyone but Danny. "Ready to start?" At Keith's hesitant nod, Iggy grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the stage. It was five feet tall and quite large compared to some of the places the family had played in the past. Keith noticed an open door that looked like it was hidden behind a curtain when the club was open. They headed through the door and up the stairs unto the stage. Once onstage, Iggy introduced him to the rest of the band, Brian on drums, Dan on bass, Sue on keyboards and Dave on lead guitar. Iggy sang lead and played guitar and piano on some songs too. Keith greeted them and glanced out at the club to notice that Reuben, Laurie and Danny had all taken a seat at a table stage left to watch the proceedings.

Several of the guys complimented Keith on his song writing and they began talking about favorite artists and such. After a few minutes they could tell Keith was getting less self-conscious and they brought up possible songs that the group knew that they thought Keith might want to perform based on the previously discussed favorite artists and groups. They decided to let Keith start the practice session on guitar as he was most comfortable with that. It was then that he noticed his own guitar cases sitting slightly off stage. He glanced over at Reuben and sent him a silent thank you for the thought. Keith slipped into the strap of his electric guitar and started noodling around a little. He wasn't playing anything in particular, but the drummer and bass player jumped in just being silly themselves. Keith glanced over at them and went into a wicked guitar riff that impressed the hell out of the really good studio musicians that made up the Electric Eels. It also caught the attention of all of the club workers who were supposed to be working but instead stopped to watch. When he stopped, all the band members were congratulating him on how great it had sounded. Keith drank in the praise and suggested they try playing something 'real' this time while a huge grin covered his face. He was starting to have some fun.

The afternoon progressed rather quickly. Keith, now more comfortable with the new guys and the new guys much more comfortable that they would be playing with someone talented rather than a 'wanna be' as a favor to Kip were all having a great time. They picked out all of the songs for the set. Keith would move from instrument to instrument over the course of the set; playing several songs on drums, then moving to piano and so on. While Keith was still the mystery guest, the lighting crew was instructed to make sure that he was always in the shadows. They didn't want to give it away too soon.

Keith would play lead guitar last and would get to play "After Midnight" and "Purple Haze". This would give him a chance to play the guitar riffs of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix – both idols of Keith's. Finally, Keith would move back to the piano to play 'Cherish' and sing for the first time. As he was singing, the lights would finally start to be brought up on the mystery performer. Everyone but Keith expected that his vocals would be a dead giveaway, but Keith expected that Iggy would still have to introduce him afterwards. At this point, Laurie would join him on stage and they would perform 'I Think I Love You', 'Lay it on the Line', 'Bandala' and 'I Can Feel Your Heartbeat'.

Reuben was more than pleased with the outcome of the 5 hour session. Keith had performed quite well and had gained the respect of the 5 musicians he was playing with - very respected musicians in their own right. All were quite a few years older than Keith but had been won over by Keith's talent. Reuben had taken the time to talk to each member of the Eels while Keith was practicing in their usual position in the band. He had heard nothing but rave reviews, some shock and awe in the amount of raw talent in someone so young, but all still expressed appreciation.

"Mr. Kincaid?" Reuben turned around to see a young man in a light-weight business suit.

"That's me." Reuben grabbed the proffered hand in shook it.

"Chuck Martin. I'm the club Manger. Your client is quite talented." Chuck said as he nodded his head in the direction of Keith.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you think so. What kind of crowd are you expecting tomorrow night?" Reuben asked as he straightened his tie. This Martin fella was a very spiffy dresser and Reuben felt under dressed in his own sport coat and tie.

"Monday's usually only bring about a half a house. Enough to have a good time, but it shouldn't be too crazy in here." Chuck continued to watch the proceeding on stage.

"Good, good. What about security?" Reuben flashed back to the airport. He wanted to make sure that not only Keith, but Laurie and Danny were kept safe while they were near the club. Any funny business and it was sure to get back to Shirley and his butt would be in a sling.

"We'll have a full staff on hand. We're not unaware of the popularity of Mr. Partridge. The crowd has the potential of being bigger than we thought. We have extra staff on call just in case." Mr. Martin seemed to have everything under control.

As their conversation ended, the group on stage decided they'd covered everything possible for that day and were starting to drift off. Several went back stage to start getting ready for the nights festivities while Iggy, Laurie and Keith headed towards Reuben and Chuck.

"Hey, Chuck! Let me introduce you to Keith and Laurie Partridge. Their brother Danny is around here somewhere too." Iggy said as he, Keith and Laurie walked up. Danny strolled over from his seat at the table.

"Nice to meet y'all. How'd you like to come up and see my office where you'll be able to watch your brother perform?" Chuck scanned the group and headed towards a set of stairs just inside the club's entrance. "Up these stairs is a VIP balcony and my office. There'll be club employees restricting access up here all evening. Sometimes we get important visitors who want to listen to the music but don't want to be bothered with autograph seekers and groupies. They get to look down on all the activity but keep a bit of separation. It's very much appreciated and gets us return visits by some very popular people. It also keeps our other attendance numbers up – the opportunity to catch a glimpse of somebody famous."

"Gotta improve profits any way possible. I like the way you think." Danny could see the sharp business acumen of the man in front of him and couldn't help but be impressed.

"Ah, a business man in the making." Chuck noticed.

"What do you mean in the making? He's a junior Howard Hughes already." Laurie said as she messed up Danny's hair with her hand.

"No junior about it." Danny responded arrogantly as he pushed his hair back into place. "In fact, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to publicize Keith's performance. It would increase your take at the door."

"Your manager and Kip both requested that this be hush-hush. But I'm with you Danny. If I had my choice I'd have billboards up and this place would be packed. But, I do work for Mr. Randall and what he says goes." Chuck said ruefully.

"Boy, if this was my club I'd give you cart blanche." Danny grinned while dreams of owning such a great establishment rolled through his head.

"We all have to start somewhere." Chuck reminded him as he opened the door to his office. "Tomorrow night we'll bring you in through the door that comes in from the convention area of the hotel, not through the club. Don't want to break any laws."

"Wow, what a great view!" Laurie exclaimed. While they'd been walking up the steps, the overhead lights had been shut off and the club was now lit like it usually was during operating hours. "This must be far-out when the dance floor is full."

"You'll see it tomorrow night. Well if that's all, I do have a club to run." Chuck walked them over to the other door.

"This is great. Just perfect. Thank you. We'll see you tomorrow night if not before." Reuben said as he shook Chuck's hand again and headed into the hall.

"The elevator to your suite is just down the hall and a right turn away." Chuck instructed as he waved them off.

"Well Keith? How are you feeling about tomorrow night now?" Reuben asked as they strolled down the hallway.

"Not too bad. The band is excellent. I'm pretty comfortable with the songs we'll be playing. With more practice tomorrow afternoon, I think it'll go alright." Keith was definitely walking with a lighter step than earlier in the day.

"Right. What could go wrong?" Laurie quipped prophetically.

xoxo

While Reuben and the kids headed back to their suite, all the workers from the club who had witnessed Keith's practice session were gossiping about what could possibly be happening. One of the bouncers who had just come from backstage told his waitress girlfriend that he had heard Iggy talking about Keith and had said he would be performing live on Monday night. The waitress told her friend the bartender. The news passed from one employee to the next throughout the club. From there, the news spread outward like wildfire. Danny's wish for a club filled to capacity would not be a fantasy after all.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sunday night was spent ordering dinner from room service and relaxing in the hot tub on the balcony. Keith even found the time to finish his new song and put words to the melody. The only step left would be the full arrangement of music and backup vocals.

Though Danny had been sent to bed earlier under great protest, the suite was fully asleep by midnight. Keith wanted to get a good night's sleep as he was to spend the day at the studio with the 'Eels' practicing for the evening performance. They would have simply met at the club again, but the 'Eels' had some tracks to lay down for a solo act that Kip was producing in the middle of the day. They decided to squeeze in practice time with Keith before and after. Moving practice to the club would have cost them valuable time. 

This meant that Keith was away from the hotel for the day and wasn't aware that his presence was now a well known fact. He would have been clued in if he'd watched the noon news broadcast. The local channel had sent a reporter over to interview members of the crowd that had formed hoping to get near their idol. Several messages had been left at the front desk with requests for an interview with Keith and his family. Fans had been calling the hotel all day leaving messages too. 

This rush of messages for the Partridge suite meant that Lyla's message to Keith was lost in the crush. She'd left a message letting him know she was back in town from her latest flight and hoped they could connect before she left again on Thursday. Keith would never receive that message.

xoxo

"Wow, what's going on? Was there a fire alarm or something?" Danny remarked as their cab started to pull up to the front of the hotel. 

"I don't hear anything." Reuben remarked as he took a closer look at the crowd of people being held back by police barricades. As the cab slowed to a stop, Reuben's brain finally processed what he was looking at – the crowd was made up of ALL young females. That could mean only one thing. Keith's presence had been made public. "Oh sh…pull back out, quickly."

The cabbie quickly followed Reuben's instructions as a few of the girls closest to the curb got a good look at who was in the back seat of the cab. Their shrieks of "Keith", followed by a rush of bodies toward the vehicle was the only impetus the cabbie needed to hit the gas. He had no desire to be overrun by overly excited teenaged females. 

"Where to?" He said as he sped out of the circular drive in the front of the hotel.

"There must be a delivery area. You know, a loading dock or something right?" Reuben suggested.

"Good idea, Mr. Kincaid." Danny's comment caused Reuben to shoot a glare over his shoulder.

"It's what you pay me for, isn't it?" 

"I was wondering why you were getting those fat paychecks from us. Before today I just assumed it was for booking us into crummy little night clubs and such." Danny quickly shot back.

"Listen here you little no-necked red-headed…." Reuben started.

"Hey, knock it off you two." Laurie cut in trying for a voice of reason. 

"How in the world did word get out that we were here?" Keith asked both thrilled and nervous about the large group of fans that were apparently there to see him.

"I'm not sure; I'll have to make some calls." Reuben was trying to think several steps ahead of the game in order to keep the kids safe. "First things first – let's get all of you safely back to the room. I'll have to work something out with hotel security."

"There. Pull in there." Reuben pointed the cabbie at the loading dock by the kitchens. Reuben got out as the cabbie pulled to a stop. "Wait here for just a second while I find safe passage."

"I think we should have just gone in the through the front. That would have been cool." Danny said excitedly.

"Cool!" Laurie's shocked comment brought Danny's eyes to her. "Don't you remember what happened at the airport? And, that was a lot less people than were in front of the hotel. We'd have been trampled for sure."

"Oh Laurie, don't be so melodramatic. There were police and hotel security all over the place." Danny reminded her.

"Lotta good that does when mob mentality takes over." Keith reminded him.

"You have both lost your sense of adventure." Just as Danny was chiding his elder siblings, Reuben walked back up to the cab with several security guards from the hotel.

"Alright gang, let's go. We'll be taken through the service hallways and right up to our suite without having to brave the lobby." Reuben said as he opened the back door and paid the cab driver, giving him a big tip for being so quick on the uptake.

"Follow me." The oldest of the security guards said as he headed into the hotel's service area.

Their passage was watched with curiosity by the bustling workers of the huge hotel complex. They heard whispers of 'who's that?' and 'must be someone important' trailing behind them.

In a few short minutes they were safely ensconced back in the plush suite. Keith, Laurie and Danny headed out onto the balcony to look down at the crowd unnoticed. Meanwhile, Reuben was busy making phone calls trying to ensure their safety.

"I still can't believe that they're all here for us." Danny said as he watched the crowd continue to grow. Since the noon news coverage, people from further away were finally starting to show up.

"What us?" Laurie said ruefully at Danny. "I think all of them are here to see Keith."

"Why just Keith?" Danny inquired.

"Yeah, what makes you say they're all here for me?" Keith pulled his gaze away from the amazing scene below.

"Didn't you take a close look at them? It's all young girls. So that means none of them are here for me and I don't know one single teenage girl who would be here for your eleven year-old self brother dear." Laurie said as she ruffled Danny's hair.

"Oh yeah?" Danny's continued his bravado while inside he had to admit Laurie's comment as truth.

"Besides, listen." As everyone fell silent to listen, they could faintly hear a chant of 'we want Keith' wafting up from the still growing crowd. "The final nail in your coffin little brother." Laurie laughed at Danny's crestfallen look.

She glanced over to Keith to see a rather dazed look on this face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Do you suppose they know about tonight's performance? That would mean a lot more people at the club tonight than we originally thought. More people to potentially see me mess up." Keith reminded her.

"You can't still be worried about that?" Laurie was really quite surprised. "Weren't you at the same rehearsal I was today? You were fantastic!"

"Yeah, but that was without an audience." 

"What do you mean? Mr. Kincaid and I were your audience." Danny joked.

"You don't count." Keith said absently.

"I think I should be hurt, but I'll ignore it this time and chalk it up to nerves." Danny made a show of sticking his nose in the air and headed in to see what Mr. Kincaid was up to.

Laurie chuckled as he walked away, "There goes Mr. Melodrama himself. And he accuses me of over-reacting."

"He does keep things lively doesn't he?" Keith couldn't help but laugh too.

"Come on. Let's go see what Reuben found out." With that they left the crowd to do what it would and closed the patio doors.

xoxo

After a half hour on the phone it was decided that the rehearsal in the club on Sunday must have been the culprit. That and word-of-mouth. Chuck had finally gotten a hold of Kip who said he saw no reason to change their plans. The show would go on.

Now that the crowd had grown to a crazy level, they had no choice but to order dinner up from room service again. Thankfully the swank suite was big enough that they didn't feel like the four walls were closing in on them yet. However, they had all started to wonder what was going to happen for the next 5 days. This was supposed to be their vacation after all. No matter how posh the suite, it would become a prison after that many days of being stuck with no way out. Reuben finally put a stop to their speculation for the time being and told Keith and Laurie to go do whatever it is they wanted to do in preparation of their performance. They would head down in less than an hour.

Keith went and took a shower and changed. Then he spent a good 15 minutes fixing his hair which Danny couldn't help but poke fun at. His ribbing resulted in quick retaliation from his older brother and a slammed bathroom door putting an end to the torment. Danny rejoined Reuben in the living area with a smug look on his face. His work was done for now.

Thirty minutes before the show was to start, they headed down the elevator to the convention area. Keith and Laurie were both dressed in casual clothes, nothing like their usual costumes. When the elevator doors opened, they were met by several security guards. As the hallways were thankfully quiet it appeared to be a bit of overkill but no one even thought of complaining.

Danny was dropped off at Chuck's office to make himself comfortable for the performance. As he looked down at the club he realized that his dream had come true. The place was filled to capacity – standing room only. In fact, he had to wonder if they weren't breaking any fire codes it looked so full. He just sat back, crossed his arms and smiled smugly. He was joined just before the show started by Kip.

Reuben, Laurie and Keith proceeded to the backstage area where they met up with Iggy and the rest of the 'Eels'. The band was completely jazzed by the size of the crowd and couldn't help but tell Keith what they had seen when they'd peeked through the curtain earlier. 

"Nervous?" Reuben asked as he saw Keith swallow heavily.

"A little. I'd feel better if I'd had a few more days…" Keith began to pace.

"Well, just remember, you were great in practice. Just fantastic. Everyone said so." Reuben cheered on his young superstar.

"Besides," Laurie chipped in, "you start out on drums. It's a great way to work off that nervous energy."

The rest of the band, noticing Keith's case of nerves kept up a steady conversation pulling him in on an argument about who was better, Clapton or Hendrix, The Beatles or The Stones and so forth. Before anyone knew it, they were told to take their places.

The night progressed quickly and triumphantly for Keith. On each instrument, he was only backlit. The audience could see a person playing, but were unable to make out his face. The crowd was almost certain it was Keith, but because of his unusual clothes compared to the Family's usual stage costumes and the fact that he was playing instruments many of them had no idea he could play, they were put off for a time. When he finally moved to lead guitar, they were simply blown away by his prowess. Whoever the mystery player was, he was excellent and they showed their appreciation.

Up in the office, Kip was quite impressed himself. He couldn't have hoped for a better performance from the young man he had almost already decided he wanted to work with. However, he had one more trick up his sleeve that would cement the deal in his mind for good. "See you later, Danny." Kip said as he headed out into the club.

"Where are you going?" Danny asked as he rushed after him.

"I want to make the announcement to the crowd. Your brother is quite a talented young man." Kip smiled smugly just like Danny had earlier.

Recognizing that smile for what it was, deviousness personified. Danny couldn't help but stop him one more time, "Just what do you have planned?"

"Oh, nothing too bad. I just want your brother to perform a few more songs that's all." Kip stepped out the door and closed it behind him.

"What songs?" Danny shouted after the door closed. "He doesn't have anything else rehearsed." Danny quietly finished knowing that Kip would not be hearing anything else he said.

Danny watched as Kip made his way down the steps, through the club, past the security guards in front of the curtained stage door and finally disappearing from his view. All of this took place while Keith was singing 'Cherish' to a crowd that was now positive the mystery guest was the one and only Keith Partridge. The voice was too distinctive. As the song faded and Keith finally faced them with the spot light fully on him, the crowd went wild.

Keith, much relieved that things had gone as well as they had, was happily drinking in the adulation with the help of the very pleased 'Eels' surrounding him. He was caught off guard and almost knocked over by a female fan who had talked a friend into hoisting her on stage. She proceeded to launch herself at Keith, wrap her arms around him and, egged on by the hooting and hollering from the crowd, planted her lips on his. Thankfully the club bouncers were quick on their feet, because before Keith could even think of protesting the very unexpected display of affection, the girl was being pulled off-stage and escorted out of the club. While the Eels razzed the hell out of him, Chuck had instructed club security to place personnel along the front of the stage. The over zealous fan had proven that they would have to take extra precautions. Meanwhile, Keith caught sight of Kip out of the corner of his eye stepping onto the stage with a microphone in his hand. Up to this point Keith wasn't sure if Kip had made it back to town in time for the command performance. 

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, I don't suppose I have to actually introduce this very talented young man to you, at least our recently departed young lady was pretty sure it wasn't her brother." The crowd chuckled at Kip's attempt at humor. "Keith Partridge." Kip swung his arm out towards Keith who was recovering quickly from the surprise display of affection. Once again, the crowd cheered loudly.

Kip walked over to Keith and put his arm around his shoulders as he continued, "And now, I'd like to introduce his equally talented sister Laurie. They'd like to play a couple of songs we're pretty sure you've all heard before." As he was finishing up, Laurie walked out to stand next to Keith. "What do you say? Want to hear some more?" Kip shouted to the crowd as Keith and Laurie moved to their instruments. Pandemonium erupted once again and didn't quiet down until the beginning beats of "Heartbeat" began to fill the club.

Danny watched them perform the Partridge Family hits and couldn't help but compare it to how they sounded when the family performed. It was quite different. Though the Eels provided harmonies, it wasn't the same as the blended sound of the family. Danny was happy to say it only placed a second to the Family's superior sound.

After finishing 'Lay it on the Line', 'Bandala' and finally 'I Think I Love You', Laurie and Keith stood hand-in-hand taking victorious bows to the vocal crowd. They were about to head off stage when Kip once again joined them. Only this time, he was carrying Keith's acoustic guitar. Behind him followed Iggy with a stool. Keith's triumphant smile began to slip as what he was hoping couldn't be happening appeared to be. He glanced past Kip to see an equally puzzled Reuben standing offstage.

"I'm hoping to give you one more treat this evening." Kip walked up and winked at Keith hopefully. "Let's see if we can't encourage Keith to play the acoustic version of some of his songs. What do you say?" The last was said to Keith as well as the crowd. The crowd did their part by cheering loudly and chanting, 'Keith,Keith,Keith'.

Keith tried begging off, but the crowd just chanted more loudly. Finally he grabbed the proffered guitar from Kip and pulled the stool in front of the microphone stand. After pulling the microphone down to his seated level, he put his hand out to Laurie saying, "I'll give this a whirl if my sister will sing harmony with me." He looked at her pleadingly.

Reuben grabbed a stool he found sitting near the one Iggy had grabbed and escorted an equally uncomfortable Laurie back into the spotlight. Another band member walked up and handed her a microphone. This was particularly disconcerting to Laurie who was not used to being the center of attention. There was no piano or organ to hide behind. She was here purely to sing. She smiled nervously at Keith and said quietly so only her brother could hear, 'you better know what your doing brother dear or I'm going to kill you later.' After that she turned and smiled brightly to the crowd – ever the performer when on stage.

Upstairs Danny had plopped down into a chair and could only utter, 'I worship at the feet of a master.'

Keith addressed the audience. "You'll have to excuse us if this starts out a little slow. We've never performed as a duet…..or acoustically for that matter. So bear with us." He turned to Laurie and said lowly, "Let's start with 'Leave Myself a Little Time'." It was an obvious choice as it relied heavily on acoustic guitar as it was originally performed. At Laurie's nod of assent, Keith turned back forward, closed his eyes like the very first time the family had performed in public and began to play. When the time came he began to sing – 'Not long ago you'd find me feeling so low' – Laurie didn't bother to try to do all of the backing vocals normally provided by 5 voices, but harmonized during the chorus of 'I'll leave myself a little time for some gladness'. Once he heard how it sounded with just the two of them he finally opened his eyes and turned to Laurie to see her smiling widely at him. He smiled back. They could do this and do it very well too.

Off stage, Reuben glanced over at Kip to see him smiling widely. When Kip noticed him watching he said, "His voice has that 'special something'; don't you think? You can really hear it when there's only a guitar for backup." Kip was thinking of what Keith could accomplish if he went solo but he wasn't about to tip his hand at this point. The kid was only seventeen after all. He had plenty of time to convince him once he was producing the family's next album.

All Reuben could do was nod. He wasn't sure he liked the look in Kip's eyes.

Keith and Laurie continued with 'Albuquerque', 'Only a Moment Ago' and 'Morning Rider on the Road'. The crowd was more than appreciative of their attempts to perform outside the traditional Family sound so they rewarded them by moving on to songs that were normally performed as piano or organ driven melodies - 'I'll Meet you Halfway', 'You are Always on My Mind', 'There's No Doubt in My Mind' and 'She'd Rather Have the Rain'. By this time they were feeling much more comfortable with how this was working and Keith did something that surprised even him, "I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but we'll be recording a new album over the next few months and several of the songs are already written. How would you like a preview?" The crowd went wild.

The next group of songs included 'Echo Valley 2-6809', 'Twenty-Four Hours a Day' and 'I'm on My Way Back Home'. 

"Now, because you've been such a great audience, I'm going to give you one last treat. This last song isn't even fully arranged yet. I only finished it last night. In fact, Laurie hasn't even heard the completed version." Keith said rather quickly and before he could chicken out he said, 'Let me know what you think?' and played a raw version of 'Brown Eyes'.

When he brought the song to a finish with a last slow strum down the strings of his guitar, he glanced over at Laurie who was looking at him a little misty eyed. She leaned over resting her forehead on the side of Keith's head as he leaned into her. She tilted her head enough so that she could say in his ear, "That was perfect!" 

Cheering loudly from near the front was the pretty brown eyed inspiration for the song, Lyla Brooks. She had attended the show with some of her friends from the last flight she'd worked. She cheered even while her heart was breaking. After all, Keith hadn't answered the message she'd left for him at the front desk. She feared that he'd completely forgotten about her after their last meeting. Had the lights not been so bright, Keith might have caught sight of Lyla and put those fears to rest.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After more than an hour and half of playing and singing, Keith finally left the stage. His ears were ringing with the loud cheers of the capacity crowd that was still chanting for their return to the stage. Kip grinned at him and said, "You can go back out for more if you want. They sure wouldn't be disappointed."

"No, I think I'll leave while I'm ahead." Keith just could not wipe the silly grin off of his face. That had gone much better than he could have hoped for. He hadn't messed up on any of the cover songs he'd performed and he had done an alright job with the acoustic set if he did say so himself.

"That was spectacular, Keith. I knew you could do it." Reuben had finally made his way to Keith and Laurie and put a confirming hand on Keith's shoulder. "Just great!"

"Thanks Reuben." Keith put his hand on top of Reuben's, acknowledging the congratulations.

"How's about we move this party up to Chuck's office. I'm sure your brother would like to be included." Kip said as he led the group out the back way so that they could head up.

A few short minutes later they entered the Manager's office to find Danny practically busting at the seams. "What took you so long?" He practically yelled as he danced around them excitedly.

"We came right after we walked off stage. What more do you want?" Laurie teased him while inside she was feeling the same excitement. She could only imagine what Keith was feeling. His post performance high must be off the charts. They had all experienced post performance highs as a family many times, but this time the performance was much more personal to Keith.

"Keith, I gotta tell ya, in all honesty, that was great! Best - performance - ever!" Danny's compliment was heartfelt and a bit of a surprise to everyone. After all, hadn't Danny been put on this earth to torment his brother?

"Thanks, Danny. Thanks a lot." Keith replied as Danny gave him a quick hug and backed off just as quickly.

"All this time I was sure you'd mess up royally." Danny reverted to his normal teasing almost immediately.

"Now that sounds more like the brother I know." Laurie smiled and hugged Keith again before adding, "Well I knew all the time that you'd be great."

"Put me down on the side of 'I knew you could do it' too." Reuben grinned at the talented brothers and sister standing so happily together - all now arm in arm as Laurie had grabbed Danny and pulled him into a group hug.

Turning from the happy group Reuben cast his eyes on the smiling Kip, 'Well, what did you think?"

"Oh, I'm with you on this one. That young man is one very talented singer, song writer and musician." Kip turned from Reuben to Keith adding, "And, if you're not too mad at me for that last little stunt of mine, I'd like to work with you on your next album."

Keith, still feeling like his feet weren't touching the ground, disentangled himself from his siblings and extended his hand, "I'm feeling rather magnanimous this evening. All surprises are forgiven. But, you still have to win over my mom before I can say yes to working together."

"Fair enough." Kip grinned and shook Keith's hand.

The noise level from the club swelled and then was muffled again as the door to the club opened and closed to admit Chuck. "Oh good, you're still here. Keith, there's someone in the VIP lounge that would like to meet you."

Keith eyebrows rose in question, "Oh, who?"

"John Lennon." Chuck grinned.

"Yeah, right. Be serious." Keith thought Chuck was trying to pull a fast one on him.

"No really! I'm not kidding. He saw your whole act and was really impressed." Chuck tried to wipe the smile off of his face, but he'd been pretty impressed to meet Mr. Lennon himself and didn't quite make it.

Keith's look of disbelief didn't leave his face and Kip thought he better step in. "Well, I haven't actually seen him here myself, but I have worked with John before and did invite him to stop by the club if he was ever in town. Want me to make sure it's really him?"

"Seriously? You've worked with John Lennon?" Laurie was duly impressed.

"Well, 'worked with' might have been a little strong. We've never actually been in a recording studio together while recording. But I do consider him a friend." Kip qualified. "How's about I bring him in here to meet you all? Seeing as Danny can't be seen in the club during working hours. There's no way he would pass for 18."

"What do you mean? Mr. Kincaid always says I'm a 40 year old midget. I'd say that means I qualify." Danny tried his best to have himself included in the adult world. Unfortunately for him neither his siblings nor Reuben would let him get away with it.

"No way short stuff." Was said by Keith at the same time that Laurie said, "In your dreams."

When Danny turned hopefully to Reuben, Reuben shot him down too, "Not without signed parental consent."

"Then it's unanimous, I'll go see if he'd like to step into the office for a few minutes." On that note Kip headed out the door.

"Shot down by my own family." Danny mumbled sadly and then turning to Reuben continued, "And, you…I thought we were two sides of the same coin. We think alike so often."

"Don't remind me kid." Reuben acknowledged ruefully, "And, I was having such a great time tonight, too."

The door opened again and they were all shocked into speechlessness by the sight of John Lennon in the flesh.

"Hey man, that was a great performance!" Came the accented voice of the former Beatle.

Keith shook the proffered hand and said, "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

"Not at all. Not at all. And you, Laurie, you were quite special yourself. You sing like an angel." John had moved on to Laurie who could only smile and blush while shaking his hand.

"You must be Danny." John said as he shook Danny's hand.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"It's the hair, kid. It's a dead give away." Reuben said as John turned his way, "Reuben Kincaid. I'm the Family's manager. It's an honor to meet you Mr. Lennon."

Small talk continued for some time with everyone becoming more and more comfortable in each other's company.

"How would you like to join me for a drink?" John asked Keith.

"I'm only 17." Keith reminded him.

"Well, it doesn't have to be alcoholic. Let's head out to the lounge so we can listen to the music and talk some more." John suggested as he turned toward the door. "Is that alright with you Chuck?"

"So long as you stay up in the VIP lounge I don't think it will be a problem." Chuck quickly agreed not wanting to say no to his guest.

"Reuben?" Keith looked at Reuben hopefully.

"Well, so long as you don't drink…." Reuben couldn't really see a problem so long as he stuck around to keep an eye on things. That would mean sending Laurie and Danny back to the room which he planned to do pronto while Keith stepped out into the club VIP area with Kip and John Lennon. After all, how often would Keith get an opportunity like this? He just couldn't shoot the kid down.

Reuben raised his hand to Laurie as she started to talk, "Don't worry, I won't leave his side as soon as I get the two of you back to the suite."

"Wait until Mom hears about this." Danny mumbled under his breath as the three of them headed out into the hall.

xoxo

Ten minutes later, Reuben was back at the club and doing exactly what he promised Laurie he would do – sticking to his singer like glue. But, not being involved in the conversation about music and song writing, Reuben had wandered over to the railing and was watching the crowd in the club. Though it had thinned slightly now that it was apparent Keith wasn't going to perform any more songs, there was still a mad crush below. At one point he thought he'd seen a familiar fall of dark brown curls, but was sure he had to have been mistaken. He'd lost her in the crowd anyway when he heard his name called.

"Hey, Reuben." Keith called. "Could you run down and get me a refill? The waitress hasn't been back for a while and I'm parched. I think it was all that singing."

"Sure, kid. What'll you have?" Reuben asked.

"Vodka rocks." Keith said waiting to see Reuben's reaction.

"What?" He wasn't disappointed.

"Just kidding Reuben. Get me a 7-Up." Keith couldn't help but smile at how easy it was to pull Reuben's leg. The family would hold contests on who could get him riled first whenever he decided to travel with them to gigs. He and Danny were currently in a dead heat. He'd have to tell Danny about this so that it could be added to his total. Danny would not be pleased.

"Anything for you, Mr. Lennon? Kip?" Reuben asked. At the negative answers, Reuben headed down the stairs to the bar.

"Two 7-Ups." He ordered when he got up to the bar. As the bartender turned away to fulfill his order, his attention was grabbed by a cry of "Reuben!"

He turned to his left to see Bonnie Kleinschmit standing right next to him. "Bonnie! I thought I saw you earlier, but I lost you in the crowd. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I flew in earlier today and then Lyla here dragged me down to the club. We'd heard that Keith would be performing." Bonnie looked at him through her lashes and added, "I was hoping that meant you were here too."

"How long are you in town for?" Reuben gave her a quick hug and finally recognized Lyla who was standing just behind Bonnie. "Lyla, now I recognize you. You were one of the attendants on our flight out here. The one that Keith…." He let the last trail off as he couldn't quite put into words what happened between her and Keith on the plane.

"That's me." She cheerfully admitted then her smile faded as she continued. "Is he still here? I'd left him a message like he asked me to, but he didn't call me. I thought maybe he'd changed his mind about…"

"The message thing is probably my fault. I picked them all up from the front desk today but haven't had time to go through them yet." At his words, Lyla's face brightened again and her smile grew even bigger when Reuben continued, "He's upstairs right now. I'm headed that way. Would you two like to join me?"

"Now that's an invitation I can't refuse." Lyla happily agreed. Bonnie accepted with equal aplomb and after Reuben grabbed his order from the bartender, the group headed to the stairs. Thankfully the bouncer didn't give Reuben any trouble about getting back upstairs or the fact that he was now three instead of one. Reuben was pretty sure it had more to do with the attractiveness of his escorts than anything else.

"oh my god" came from behind Reuben as he set Keith's drink in front of him. Reuben assumed that Lyle and Bonnie had recognized who was sitting next to Keith completely engrossed in conversation. In fact, they were so involved in their conversation that neither of them looked up until Reuben cleared his throat rather loudly.

"Look who I found." Reuben said as Keith finally looked up. Keith's 'thanks' trailed off quickly as he caught sight of Bonnie and then Lyla.

"Lyla!" Keith jumped up to greet her. "When did you get back in town? I was waiting for your message."

"Hi Keith. Reuben and I were talking about that very subject. It appears that he hasn't read any of the messages left for you yet."

When Keith sent an accusing look at Reuben, Reuben shrugged and said, "Well, Keith, since your staying here got out, there've been more than a few messages left for you. Most of them from reporters and people you've never heard of before. I was going to look through them tomorrow morning."

At Keith's understanding look Reuben relaxed. Keith finally remembered his manners and introduced John and Kip to Lyla and Bonnie. Pleasantries were exchanged and they pulled extra chairs up to the table so they could all talk.

About an hour later, John said it was time for him to go. He left with an open invitation to Keith to look him up anytime he was in New York or if they ever ended up in the same city again.

Kip headed out shortly after as well. He'd been going nonstop for several days and needed some sleep. He was planning on sticking around until later in the day the next day so that he could meet with Shirley when she got into town. Then he was off to Naples again for a short trip. He told Reuben he'd call him the next morning to set up a meeting with Shirley to discuss the possibilities of his producing their next album.

Reuben decided that getting Keith out of the club now that there was no real reason to stay would be the smart move. "Let's say we move this party up to the suite." He suggested.

At the ladies assent, they all proceeded out through Chuck's office. As they walked through the empty convention center hallways Keith and Lyla walked ahead of Bonnie and Reuben. The older couple noticed that the younger couple had entwined their fingers and were walking as close together as possible. Lyla laid her head gently on Keith's shoulder as they talked quietly. Reuben turned to Bonnie and extended his hand, shortly thereafter they were walking hand-in-hand too.

xoxo

When they got back to the suite it was dark and quiet. Danny and Laurie were already asleep and had been for about an hour even though they both had tried to stay up hoping to hear more about John Lennon from Keith. It was already after 1:00 am and if Keith had been home or Shirley had been there, Lyla would not have been allowed up to the suite. The bachelor in Reuben didn't see any problems with the late hour and if it did bother him for just a second he rationalized that it was only 10:00 pm back in California.

Bonnie and Reuben stayed in the living area and shared a drink. Keith and Lyla headed out to the balcony and would have taken advantage of the Jacuzzi if Lyla had had a bathing suit. They even discussed the possibility of just stripping down but decided against it with the possibility of Danny or Laurie waking up and catching them. They settled for sharing one reclined lounge chair and getting to know each other better – much better.

Keith broke off their latest kiss in a desperate attempt for air. He leaned over Lyla breathing heavily while running his fingers lightly over her face and into her hair over and over trying to regain some control. Keith's long hair cast his face in shadow making it too dark for Lyla to make out his features easily, but she could guess at Keith's frustration at not being in a more private situation. After all if she had her choice, they'd be in his bed and much further along the path they had started 20 minutes ago.

"Oh how I wish we were alone…..and in a bed." Lyla finally whispered her heart felt desire.

Keith groaned and leaned in for another deep, wet and yet not quite satisfying kiss. They both knew it couldn't lead to anything more – not that night anyway. Not with Bonnie and Reuben just on the other side of the sliding glass doors. "Don't even tempt me with the 'might have beens'."

Lyla raised her head to initiate the next meeting of lips that ended with a very frustrated Keith finally pushing himself completely off of the lounge chair. "We need to stop now or…." He let the comment trail off as he walked over to the railing, closed his eyes and let his head drop back as if to gaze at the stars. He was fighting every urging of his body to return to the very willing and pretty lady waiting for him.

He heard her start to get off the chair and warned, "don't come over here just yet, ok?" His words were said in an almost pleading voice.

"Keith, this is ridiculous. Why don't you come back to my room? We can take this to the obvious conclusion." Lyla begged prettily from her now seated position.

"Huh, that's just not gonna happen." Keith said as he tilted his head back down and opened his eyes to look at the dark ocean rippling in the moonlight.

"Why not?" Lyla asked naively.

"Because Reuben will never let me out of the suite, that's why. He has strict instructions from my mother to watch all of us very closely. And, after tonight, I'm pretty sure his conscience is about as guilty as it can get without killing him. We're just lucky it's Bonnie in there with him or we'd have never gotten this far. She could distract him from an earthquake." Keith finally looked back at Lyla. He realized immediately what a big mistake that was. She looked so sexy with her hair messed up and her lips still wet and swollen from their last kiss. He just couldn't resist and headed back to her.

He leaned down and kissed those swollen lips with all the pent-up frustration he was feeling. And just as he was about to follow her wilting body back down to the lounge chair the sliding glass doors slid open. "Lyla?" Bonnie called her name not seeing them immediately in the darkness of the balcony.

Keith broke off the kiss and slowly pushed himself back to a standing position. Lyla took a little longer to recover. She moaned softly and only pushed herself back to a sitting position after Bonnie called her name again. "Over here." She answered reluctantly.

"Reuben's going to escort us back to our rooms. We'd better get going." Bonnie astutely left the doorway and headed back into the room. She didn't close the door though, which was her not so subtle hint to 'get a move on'.

"Sorry." Lyla said to Keith who had once again faced away from her to look at the ocean. She walked over and put her arms around him from behind.

"Not nearly as sorry, or frustrated, as I am." Keith said as he put a hand over her hands that were resting on his chest.

She giggled and started to move her hands down his body while saying, "just how frustrated are we talking here?"

Keith grabbed each one of her hands with one of his to stop her progress. "Very and let's leave it at that."

"Poor baby." Lyla huffed in his ear while rubbing her body against his back causing Keith to groan. Lyla decided to end his torment and stepping away said, "Can we see each other tomorrow? I don't fly out again until Thursday."

Keith turned around to face her once again. "What's your room number? I'll call you as soon as I get a chance. My mom is flying in tomorrow and we'll have another meeting with Kip so I won't be available until late afternoon at the earliest."

"I'm in 912. Call me in the morning if you can, even if we can't get together until later."

Lyla tilted her head up for one last relatively chaste kiss and headed for the door. "912. Got it." Keith called to her as she walked out of sight. He was pretty sure he wouldn't tire of watching her walk away from him for quite some time. She had a very fluid sexy motion to her movements that seriously turned him on.

"Right, cold shower time it is." He mumbled to himself as he walked into the suite closing the sultry night outside.


	7. Chapter 7

I think this may be my favorite chapter to this story. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I got writing it.

Chapter 7

Ten minutes after Lyla and Bonnie left the suite, Keith stepped out of his cold shower and dried off. He tucked the towel around his hips and looked at himself in the completely clear mirror. A mirror that was clear thanks to the temperature of his shower. He was now wide awake but noticed that he had dark rings under his eyes. He really was going to have to try to get more regular sleep, especially with school starting in less than a week. He grabbed another towel from the rack and put it over his head to start drying his hair and walked back into the bedroom. He was running through his options on what to do to help make him sleepy when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a gasp. He pushed the towel down around his neck and flung his hair back out of his face. The sight that greeted him was truly unexpected and he jumped back. "Holy shit!" came out of his mouth before he could stop it. On his previously unoccupied bed sprawled a very curvy, very naked blond who looked to be in her late teens. She had an equally surprised look on her face that quickly turned to a wicked grin once she fully processed Keith's state of undress. She thought she had hit the jackpot.

Just as Keith uttered his expletive, Reuben happened to be walking past the door. He'd just returned from his job as escort and was surprised to hear the swear word coming from Keith's mouth. Surprised enough to knock on the door and ask, "Is everything alright?"

"Uh, Reuben, I think you better get in here." Keith invited still rooted to the spot on the floor that he had stopped in upon his discovery.

Another unusual sound greeted Reuben's ears before he could reach for the doorknob. It sounded suspiciously like a muffled female shriek. While Reuben contemplated this latest oddity, Keith was witness to the unnamed female rolling off the side of the bed and thudding onto the floor away from Keith and away from the door leading into the living area of the suite. This latest sound brought Reuben quickly into the room. He saw Keith standing in a towel just outside the bathroom door with a silly grin on his face while looking at the far side of the room. Reuben followed Keith's line of sight but could not see any reason for Keith to be grinning. Just before he could ask another question, he noticed that the comforter on the bed was slowly being pulled off of the bed away from them. Reuben's hairline ascended several inches at this bizarre development.

"Ummm….Reuben, I think you may want to give the young lady a couple of minutes. In the mean time, I think I'll just put some clothes on." Keith said as he grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the dresser next to him and headed back into the bathroom.

While Reuben contemplated the quickly disappearing bedding, he was quickly joined by a sleepy Laurie and Danny. "What was that noise?" Laurie asked as she yawned into her hand.

"I'm not sure, but I intend to find out in just a second." Reuben said as he finally walked around the side of the bed to find a very embarrassed but now completely covered young lady. "What the…..how did you get in here?"

"Could you please hand me my clothes?" The female asked without really looking at him.

"Hand who, her what?" Danny asked as he flew around the side of the bed to stand next to Reuben. Reuben grabbed Danny and put his hands over his eyes but not before Danny was able to figure out what was going on. A big grin spread over his face which looked quite comical considering half of his face was now covered with Reuben's hand.

Reuben left his hand over Danny's eyes as he walked him back to the door and asked Laurie to take him out into the living area. Just as they were walking out Keith came back out of the bathroom fully clothed except for bare feet and with his wet hair combed out of his eyes. "She still here?" he asked.

"Yep, and asking for her clothes. What's going on here?" Reuben looked at Keith who looked neither guilty nor embarrassed so he was pretty sure he had nothing to do with what was happening.

"I'm not really sure. I walked out of the bathroom after my shower and there she was." As Keith was talking, Reuben noticed the young lady peek her head over the side of the bed to stare adoringly at him.

"What do you mean there she was?" Reuben was still completely baffled.

"I mean, there she was. Sprawled out on the bed in all her….'natural' glory. Surprised the heck out of me." Keith started grinning all over again as he thought about his surprise visitor and how she had looked when he first realized she was there. His grin grew when the picture of her comical roll off the bed replayed through his memory. That was a picture that was going to stick with him for a while.

"Ok, Ok, I think I understand now. Why don't you go out to the other room while I get our visitor ready to leave?" Reuben shooed Keith out the door.

"I'm going to wait outside this door for 5 minutes, young lady. You best get dressed quick and make an appearance. I'll also be notifying hotel security." Reuben addressed his latest comments at the far side of the bed. The young lady had sunk fully behind the mattress once again as soon as Keith was out of eyesight. He heard a heavy sigh just as he closed the door behind him.

"Laurie, keep an eye on this door will you? Keith, stay as far away from that door as possible." Reuben instructed as he walked towards the phone.

"What about me?" Danny asked.

"You? You stay by Keith and protect him." Reuben instructed.

"From what?" Danny was really having fun now.

"I don't know. From girls." Reuben said completely frustrated with the whole situation.

"How the heck am I supposed to do that?" Danny asked another question that he knew would really bug their Manager.

Reuben ignored him and picked up the phone. He placed a call to security who said they would send someone right up. As he hung up, he ran a hand over his face. How was he going to explain this to Shirley? And, he'd have to, he knew that. There was no way possible that the kids wouldn't tell her about this one. Keith would probably keep it a secret but Laurie and Danny would definitely share this story in all its sordid details.

Just as Reuben ran his hand down his face for a second time, Keith's bedroom door opened to admit a very pretty blond girl who was thankfully fully clothed though in such a way that little was left to the imagination. She had started this night bent on seduction and her outfit would have gone a long way in assisting her. Danny's eyes widened in awe and even Laurie did a double take on the girl's brazen attire. Her heavily made up eyes immediately found Keith on the far side of the room perched on the back of the couch and she sighed heavily again. Reuben couldn't tell if the sigh was the loss of her golden opportunity or just plain worship. Her face clearly displayed that she was completely infatuated with the young heartthrob. Keith wasn't helping matters by staring at her and grinning.

"Keith, knock it off." Reuben snapped.

"What? What am I doing?" He asked innocently but the grin stayed firmly in place.

"That. Stop that." Reuben's comments just caused Keith's grin to grow.

Laurie and Danny were starting to see the humor in this whole incident and they too had grins firmly in place noticing Reuben's frustration level grow with each passing second.

"Oh no, young lady. Freeze." Reuben was the only one who noticed that the girl was trying to inconspicuously make her way towards Keith. After all, she hadn't bribed a hotel employee with her last twenty dollars just to have her whole plan go up in smoke. She planned on getting her 'memory' that would have to sustain her through what she was sure was going to be a very mundane adult life. Besides, all of her girlfriends knew she was doing this and she was definitely going to have a 'true' story to tell them that had some kick to it. Seeing Keith in just a towel was a really good start, but she had planned for a whole lot more. Something along the lines of Keith losing that towel and joining her in bed had a good ring to it.

Just then the elevator dinged and the door opened to admit a tired looking security guard. While Reuben's attention was pulled away from her, the girl saw her chance. She kicked off her high heeled sandals for additional speed and launched herself across the room. Danny saw her coming but even with Reuben's command still fresh in his mind decided that his health was more important than protecting Keith from the girl and stepped quickly out of the way.

Keith didn't notice her coming until the last second so was not able to avoid her. She crashed into him sending him backwards over the couch and onto the floor with 100 pounds of lush female landing squarely on top of him. He was momentarily knocked breathless and she took her opportunity to kiss him to within an inch of his life. And, considering that Keith was fighting for breath to begin with he was pretty sure it wouldn't take her long. He was just about to cry 'uncle' when she was bodily lifted from him by the security guard.

Keith lay there trying to regain his breath. As soon as he did he started to laugh. He couldn't help it. The whole scene was just too ridiculous. Once Keith started laughing Laurie and Danny joined in very quickly. They too saw how hysterical the whole thing had been. Reuben just stood there with his mouth hanging open. He would never understand how young people thought.

The girl who still had no name was now almost hysterical. She'd been foiled again. She cried even harder when she realized that Keith was still just laying there. As if waiting for her to come back. She was inconsolable which made the security guard feel completely helpless.

Laurie tried very hard to still her laughter hoping to help out but it took her several times at speaking before it wasn't spoiled by laughing. Keith too was trying valiantly to still his laughter and sit up. After several more minutes, they finally subsided.

"Thank God!" Reuben said. "Now maybe we can find out what is going on around here."

"Right. Let's find out what's going on." At least Keith wasn't laughing anymore as he finally rose to his feet. However, he still wore that maddening grin.

As he made a movement as if to walk over to the girl, Reuben planted himself firmly between them and put his hand on Keith's chest. "No way. You stay far away from her."

"Reuben I was just going to try and stop her from crying so we can get some answers out of her." Keith tried walking around him.

"Keith, Reuben's right. You going over by her won't help. Let me try." Laurie offered.

Keith nodded and said, "Go ahead. I'm really curious as to how she got up here." And when, he added under his breath. He sure hoped she hadn't been spying on him and Lyla.

Laurie approached the guard and the sobbing girl and put her arm around her. "Hush, now. It's not that bad. You'll make yourself sick. Besides, my brother is definitely not worth all of these tears."

Danny walked over to try to help. "She's right you know. In fact, I can't think of anyone less worthy of your tears."

"Hey!" That statement finally wiped the grin off of Keith's face. "No need to insult me."

"Shhh…It's working." Reuben shushed him.

"Well that's flattering. She goes through a….well I'm not sure what she went through to get up here. But then she hears I'm not worth tears and she cheers right up." Keith mumbled to himself.

"There, that's better. Why don't you sit down here?" Laurie led the girl to one of the bar stools in front of the wet bar and handed her several tissues from the nearby box. The girl's pretty face was liberally streaked with mascara. "Ok, now tell me what's going on here."

It was like the flood gates opened. Once she started talking she didn't stop until the whole story spilled out.

"Well, my friend Rachel dared me to sneak into Keith's room and, of course, I had to take her up on it. After all, it was a double dog dare. And besides, it wasn't like I didn't find the idea really appealing. He's the cutest guy in the whole wide world, we all agreed." This last comment brought the grin back to Keith's face and made Danny roll his eyes rather dramatically. "In fact, after some discussion I had to remind Rachel that I was the one who'd been dared because she wanted to sneak up here too. So, anyway, I bribed one of the bellmen to let me up here and I waited in the master bedroom until he came back to the suite. I've been here since around 8:00 or so, I guess. I heard you and Danny come back but no Keith. So I waited some more. Then he comes back with two girls and…."

"Wait a second. He came to the room with two girls?" Danny couldn't help but interrupt on that one.

"Well, he wasn't with both of them, the other one was older and with him." She motioned at Reuben and then continued. "After he" motioning at Reuben again, "left with both girls I saw Keith go into the other room that wasn't occupied. I snuck in, took my clothes off and that's where he found me. But then HE," motioning at Reuben again, "came along and ruined the whole thing. Now what in the world am I supposed to tell Rachel?" She trailed off with a heavy sigh.

"What was the name of the bellman you bribed?" The security guard finally piped up. To this point he had just been an avid listener.

"I didn't get a name." She said.

"What did he look like?" He tried again to identify the problem.

"He was tall, had blond hair, blue eyes and a really wimpy mustache." She described her accomplice.

"That would be Hank. Don't worry Mr. Kincaid. By morning this will all be handled. By the way, young lady, what's your name? We'll need to call your parents." The security guard's words sent the young lady back into hysterics.

The security guard guided the hysterical girl onto the elevator and told Reuben he'd give him an update when he had one.

As the doors closed, Reuben muttered, "What else? Nothing has gone as expected on this whole vacation. And, just what has been a vacation about this whole trip anyway? Just another nail in my coffin; the one that Shirley is sure to bury me in come tomorrow. I wonder who'll write my eulogy."

They all stared at their manager as he continued to mumble until Danny asked, "Mr. Kincaid, are you alright?"

"What?" Reuben appeared to come out of some sort of trance. "Yeah, sure kid, I'm fine. How about you, are you all fine?"

"Sure we are." Laurie assured him as she looked at him as if he weren't all there.

"Well, then let's all get some sleep. It's, wow, it's 3:00 am. Another thing for your mother to be upset at me for. Alright, that's it. Everyone off to bed." Reuben started shooing them towards their rooms.

Despite everything, they all slept very deeply and far into the morning.

xoxo

Keith had called Lyla from bed and they talked for about a half an hour before Keith figured he better get moving as his Mom and Chris and Tracy would be arriving in a little over an hour. "I'll call you later – after everything's been settled. We'll make plans for tonight. How does that sound?"

"Lovely. I'll talk to you later." Lyla rang off and figured she had several hours to kill before she'd hear from Keith again. She called Bonnie and they made plans to go shopping for a few hours.

They were just cleaning up after another room service meal when the elevator door opened to admit a frazzled looking Shirley with the two youngest Partridges. "What in the world is going on around here? There is an absolutely crazy crowd out front chanting Keith's name. We almost got trampled once some of them realized who we were. It's only thanks to a quick thinking group of security people that we're even here all in one piece." She paused for a breath but continued when everyone just looked at her with slightly guilty looks on their face. "Alright, spit it out."

When no one offered up any information willingly, she turned to Danny, "Danny, start talking."

She knew he was her best bet. He loved to get other people in trouble. And, if she wasn't missing her bet, the three oldest occupants of the room were all very guilty of something. She just wasn't sure what that something was.

Danny proceeded to tell her the whole story of Kip's performance requirements and how the night went. He left out big chunks of information, but it was a very long story and he was pretty sure he had hit the high points.

Shirley moved her eyes from person to person and finally lighted on Reuben, "That's a pretty big piece of information you left out when you told me about Kip's expectations. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Reuben had been squirming since she'd walked in. He made a concerted effort now to draw himself up and put the best possible spin on the situation that he could. "Well, the good news is that Kip has agreed to produce your next album."

"So, the ends justify the means?" Shirley asked with a raised brow.

"Yes?" Reuben answered questioningly. He continued quickly when he saw Shirley about to explode. "Seriously, Shirley. Look at them. They're all fine. Not a scratch on them. Physically and emotionally whole. In fact, Keith is a stronger performer for everything he's been through and Laurie is too. Danny was never put in an iffy situation, not once."

Reuben's comments drew Shirley's eyes back to her kids who were all standing closely together around the table they had just shared a meal. She looked them over closely and could see no ill effects from their latest adventure. In fact, she could see a sparkle in their eyes as if they had just shared a very exciting and thoroughly satisfying adventure.

"You're truly all ok?" She asked them.

"Mom, we're fine." Laurie assured her.

"Sure Mom, we're great!" Keith added. "And, wait 'til you meet and talk with Kip. You'll be impressed Mom. We'll sell more records than you could ever imagine."

These comments seemed to mollify her fears and she finally headed over and hugged and kissed each one of her 'babies'. If she hugged each of them longer than she ever had before no one mentioned it.

After pulling back from Keith, she glanced over to see a very pretty and unfamiliar pair of shoes lying haphazardly on the floor. "Whose shoes are those?"

As four sets of eyes glanced at the mystery girl's shoes that had been forgotten by everyone as she was taken out of the suite last night, a heavy silence filled the room.

"Well, Mom, why don't you come and sit down. There are parts of the story that Danny missed in the first telling." Laurie grabbed her mom's arm and started to lead her over to the sofa. "It really is quite the story. Wouldn't you say so, Keith?"

"Yeah, quite the story alright. You should definitely sit down though. It's pretty long." Keith grabbed her other arm and her two eldest children led Shirley to the sofa to sit her down for the telling.

Shirley's eyes proceeded to widen in shock, darken in anger and glow with pride at different times during the course of the telling of their adventure. Keith, Laurie and Danny took turns relaying parts of the story, each one breaking in when they felt an important detail was missed by the current story teller. After Shirley listened quietly, her eyes finally crinkled in laughter as the story concluded with the almost farcical events of the previous nights ending. She knew that certain parts were glossed over in deference to Chris and Tracy's presence but she was sure that by the end of the telling she had the majority of the facts. She'd have Laurie fill her in completely when they had some time alone.

"Oh my!" Shirley finally said after she was able to still her laughter. "I almost wish I hadn't missed parts of that. Other parts I'm glad I did miss. However, Mr. Randall has some explaining to do – minors in his dance club. What was he thinking? And, you Reuben, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that Keith would have never forgiven me if I didn't let him talk to John Lennon for more than 5 minutes. Come on, Shirley, be honest. You'd have done the same thing." And, after Shirley's expression didn't change, "Right?"

Eventually Shirley had to ruefully admit, "You're probably right. In fact, I would have loved the opportunity to meet John Lennon myself. Was Yoko along?"

xoxo

After the group discussion continued for several more minutes amid much laughter at Danny's unique way of telling stories and Reuben's often offended reaction to his version, Shirley finally asked the pertinent question that everyone had been avoiding for more than a day. "How in the world are we supposed to enjoy our vacation with that crowd outside?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that myself." Reuben admitted. "I guess we have to find somewhere else to go. Somewhere obviously more private."

As Reuben finished his comments the phone rang. Danny jumped up to answer it with "Hello. Partridge Funny Farm. If you're crazy enough, we have room for you...Oh, Mr. Randall…..Yes, my Mom has arrived……Sure let me put her on"

"Oh Danny." Shirley lightly rebuked him as she grabbed the phone. "Hello, Mr. Randall……Yes, I'd love to speak to you…..In our suite would be best considering the crowd…..15 minutes it is."

The conversation, though Reuben was very unsure of its outcome considering Shirley's previous anger, went exceptionally well. Kip quickly won Shirley over. It didn't hurt that he praised the talent of Keith and Laurie in such glowing terms that she was soon flushed with parental pride. It was gratifying to hear someone else think as highly of her children as she did.

Kip also won Shirley's respect by bringing up the family's vacation situation and offering a solution. He had a very nice home in Naples that would be unoccupied for the remainder of the week as he traveled for business. He would fly them over on his private jet, introduce them to the house staff and then leave on his business trip. He'd return on Saturday morning to fly them back to Miami to catch their flight home.

The plans were deemed perfect by everyone but Keith who knew he wouldn't be able to spend any time with Lyla if he wasn't in Miami. But, he was also smart enough to realize that he wasn't really going to be able to spend time with her as he wouldn't be able to leave the room so long as that crowd remained. He was between a rock and a hard place on this one. So, Naples it was.

He called her room before they left but she wasn't back from her shopping trip with Bonnie yet. He didn't want to leave a message telling anyone where he was going, so he asked Reuben to relay a message through Bonnie for him. He didn't like the impersonal feeling it gave, but he had no choice as they were leaving immediately for the airport.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The flight on Kip's private jet was quick and they were soon piled into the limo that had been waiting for Kip to arrive. The limo pulled into a palm tree lined private drive that was quite long. It ended at the circular drive of a very large and stately mansion on the beach.

"Well, here we are, home sweet home." Kip said as he got out and extended his arm towards his home. As the Partridge's spilled onto the driveway he continued, "My parents built this property about 20 years ago. There are only two permanent residents now as I don't get to spend as much time here as I'd like. I'm in L.A. and New York too often. The Nelsons keep it ready for me whenever I get the chance to stop here for a visit. They stay in that cottage that you can just see through those trees. I called them and told them we were coming, so things should be ready."

"It's beautiful!" Shirley said as she looked at the very large and welcoming home sitting in front of her. "How can you bare to be away from here for so long? It's like paradise."

"It's why I'm looking to buy property for another hotel here. It would give me a reason to stop and stay here more often than I allow myself to do now. It's one of the perils of having your investments spread out all over the world."

"That's a problem I'd like to have." Danny remarked as he tried to calculate just how much a house this big must have cost to build, even twenty years ago it had to have been a pretty penny. Pennies Danny wished he had just a small fraction of for himself.

"Mr. Randall!" All eyes turned at the greeting from a smiling gray haired woman in a pretty multi-colored dress.

"Mrs. Nelson!" Kip returned the greeting and wrapped the smiling woman in a bear hug. "I'd like you to meet our guests. This is Shirley Partridge and her family."

"I know who they are Kip." Mrs. Nelson said as she offered her hand to Shirley, "My grandchildren are big fans. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all ours." Shirley took the woman's hand and smiled at her warmly.

"Well, come inside. Let's get you all settled. My husband Frank is around here somewhere, he can help the men with the luggage." Just as she finished her comments an equally gray haired and smiling man walked up.

"All of you go inside. The driver and I can handle the heavy lifting." Frank shook Shirley's hand as he passed by her to empty the contents of the limo's trunk.

"Mr. Nelson, the boys can help. There's an awful lot of luggage associated with a family of six." Shirley reminded him.

"Right, we're used to carrying luggage. I think it's in our job description." Danny remarked as he headed back to the limo with Keith following behind him.

By the time the women reached the front door, the luggage had been emptied out of the limo and Kip was saying goodbye to Keith as he got back in to leave on his business trip.

xoxo

The next couple of days were spent in lazy fun – sleeping in late, snorkeling, body surfing the waves, shopping in town, building sand castles or just catching some sun. Keith had discovered the home's music room and had even put some work in on his new song. Shirley had reminded him to have some fun instead of working on his vacation, but Keith had said he would only work when he was done having fun. And, so far, he'd only been in the room for a few hours in the evenings.

Reuben had shown up Wednesday night with a rented car. He had decided against flying over with the rest of them in order to spend some time with Bonnie. He pulled Keith aside as soon as he had a chance to let him know that, though Lyla had been very disappointed, she had understood Keith's predicament. They would be able to talk to each other on the flight home. Lyla had been able to switch flights with one of the other stewardesses who was based in Miami and who was only too glad to be able to stay home for her and her boyfriend's 6 month anniversary.

Shirley and Mrs. Nelson had been talking while making breakfast that morning and found out that the Nelson's daughter, Connie, had married a very prominent pediatric surgeon, Dr. Robert Kelley. They had a speed boat that would be great for water skiing and had offered it to the family for their enjoyment. Keith, Laurie and even Reuben jumped at the chance to go water skiing. Keith and Laurie had gone skiing with their dad when he was still alive but hadn't gone since. The younger ones wanted to give it a try. Shirley, though she knew it would bring back memories, agreed once she saw how excited everyone else was.

They packed a lunch and headed to the marina. Connie met them at the docks to get them familiar with everything and then took her leave explaining that she had a charity luncheon to attend. They were to take the boat out for the day and not worry about getting back as she would be tied up most of the day. They made plans to meet up with her again around 5:00.

The day was beautiful for skiing. There was very little wind, so the water was smooth. Keith and Laurie went first while Reuben drove the boat. They were towed side by side and, once they got the feel of it after not having gone for so long, they even began to weave under each other's tow ropes. After several minutes of their play, Keith was headed toward Laurie once again as if to go under her rope. Laurie held her rope up in preparation but at the last second, Keith cut his journey short and sent a spray of water at his sister that drenched her completely. As Laurie sputtered and struggled to maintain her balance at her brother's prank, the kids in the boat laughed hysterically at Laurie's predicament. Several times Laurie attempted to pay Keith back, but he was always too fast and would ski away from any geysers of water she sent up. Their strenuous game quickly tired them out and they waved Reuben off, dropping the ropes to sink gracefully into the water. Reuben circled around to pick them up.

"I owe you one Keith!" Laurie said with a scowl for her brother that brought an answering grin showing he was not sorry for his actions. Her frown was quickly replaced by a big grin as she climbed the ladder on the side of the boat. "That was great! But, now my legs feel like noodles. It has been way too long."

"Way too long is right." Keith agreed as he pulled himself in the boat behind his sister. He walked to the back of the gently bobbing boat and began to pull in the tow ropes. They had gotten a bit tangled when he and Laurie were weaving around. "Who's next?"

When no one immediately volunteered, Reuben said, "I'll be next. Anyone want to go with me?"

"I'm here to watch." Shirley said.

"Danny? You ready to give it a try?" Reuben asked.

"Not yet. I'd like to watch for a while yet."

"Ok, Keith you driving?" Reuben asked as he put on the life vest and slid over the side of the boat.

"Sure, here's the rope." Keith threw one of the lines in the water and left the other coiled on the floor of the boat. He went up to the controls and eased the boat slowly away from Reuben until the handle was within reach. When Reuben gave him the thumbs up, Keith nailed the throttle and sent the boat speeding forward pulling Reuben to a standing position. Reuben had been slaloming in and out of the wake for several minutes when a boat full of very pretty women flew past going in the opposite direction. The distraction caused Reuben to lose his concentration and when the wakes from the two boats met, Reuben was unprepared. The wipeout that ensued was rather spectacular. Keith trying valiantly to squelch his laughter, quickly swung the boat around as they all searched the water for Reuben. They found him right where the trail of his wipeout had ended looking rather sheepish.

"Mr. Kincaid, that was great. Do it again!" Tracy clapped her hands happily as the Manager pulled himself slowly into the boat.

"Not in this lifetime." He mumbled as he continued to mentally check himself for injury.

"Are you alright, Reuben?" Shirley asked as she grabbed a towel to hand to him.

"My prides a little bruised, but other than that I'm fine." Reuben admitted.

"You sure?" Keith asked, "Wipeouts like that can cause some pretty serious swim suit issues. If you know what I mean."

Reuben glanced over at Keith to see the same grin that had driven him nuts a few nights previously firmly planted on his face once again.

"You mean like wedgies?" Danny asked a little too innocently.

"The mother of all…" Keith wickedly agreed.

"I'm fine." Reuben huffed but everyone knew darn well he wouldn't have admitted to anything even if he was in pain. "Besides, it's Danny's turn to try."

"You expect me to go in after that display? I think I need to watch someone who's good at this for a while. You know so I know what to do when I try – not what not to do."

"How 'bout you mom? You used to love water skiing." Laurie looked at her mother expectantly.

"I don't think so." Shirley demurred. "In fact, how's about we find a nice quiet spot and have some lunch."

"I could eat, I guess." Danny said while eyeing the lunch basket greedily.

"I'll just bet. I hope you packed enough for the rest of us." Laurie said to her mother knowing just how much her brother could pack away.

"There's plenty for several big appetites. Mrs. Nelson figured some of us would work up an appetite. I think there's enough in there for a small army." Shirley assured.

"Good, cause I'm pretty hungry myself." Reuben added. "A little activity really helps to make the appetite grow."

"A little activity? That spill qualifies as major activity for sure." Danny quipped.

Reuben did his best to ignore Danny and proceeded to drive the boat to a quiet cove and anchor it. They spent the next hour eating, cleaning up and lazing around letting the food settle before they set out for an afternoon of more skiing.

On their second foray, Keith and Laurie went separately. Keith even skied with just one ski proving that he hadn't lost his touch. Laurie had chickened out trying just one ski, but had showed some prowess of her own when she'd been surprised by the wake from a passing boat.

They couldn't talk Reuben into a second try, but tried once again to get their Mom to give it a shot.

"Mom, please, won't you give it a try?" Laurie asked.

When they could see that she was just going to beg off again, Chris and Tracy added, "Oh please, Mom, pretty please!"

"Mom, if you go, I'll give it a try." Danny added his pleas.

"Oh, come on Mom. You're really good. Danny would learn a lot by watching you." Keith added his encouragement to the rest.

"It's been so long, I'd probably pull something or wipe out even more spectacularly than Reuben did." Shirley continued to protest.

"I promise not to drive as fast as I did with Reuben. After all, it took more speed to get him out of the water." Keith smiled angelically at Reuben's protest at that latest comment.

"Please Mommy?" Tracy tried again.

"Yeah, Mom, I'd really like to see you water ski." Chris piped in.

"You'll really take it easy on me?" Shirley looked at Keith.

"Cross my heart mom. And, I'll swing back to get you quick as can be when you're done."

With her five children looking at her expectantly Shirley finally gave in.

She didn't ski for long, but she had fun and Danny agreed to give it a try once she was done. She'd looked so graceful on the skis that Danny was certain he could do it too.

Keith got in the water with Danny and gave him instructions on how to keep the ski tips out of the water and just let the speed of the boat pull him upright. Just before he told him to give the signal to Reuben as soon as he was ready, Keith gave one last piece of advice – if you get pulled past the skis and feel yourself going over, let go of the tow rope.

Danny foolishly gave the thumbs up at the same time he turned to Keith to ask why that last piece of advice was so important. As Danny was pulled up and quickly over the front of the skis, he just as quickly forgot Keith's last words of advice. As Danny was being pulled face first through the water, Keith was laughing so hard he wanted to double over, but the water prevented it. Thankfully Shirley quickly informed Reuben of Danny's predicament and stopped the boats forward motion. Within seconds, Danny's red head bobbed back above the water. Once everyone could see he was alright, laughter took over. Keith was trying valiantly to still his laughter so that he could swim over and check on his little brother, but it was taking him longer than it normally would have.

When Keith finally made it over to a still sputtering Danny, he quickly asked, "Are you alright?"

"Fine, no thanks to you." Danny had been a little frightened by that latest incident and took it out on Keith.

"Me? What do you mean no thanks to me? I told you to let go if you went over. Why'd you hang on?" Keith was really trying to keep a straight face.

"I don't know. I guess I forgot." Danny pushed a dripping swath of hair out of his face.

"How could you forget? It was the last thing I told you before you…..Oh forget it. You ready to try again? Here comes the boat and the tow rope."

"No way."

"Oh come on. You don't want the rest of the family to think you're chicken."

"I really don't care what they think about me."

"Oh yes you do. Besides, how will it look to Chris and Tracy if you give up after only one try?" Keith was doing his best to talk Danny into trying again. He remembered when their dad had taught him. It had taken Keith several attempts to get up too. Of course, he hadn't held onto the rope like Danny had and gotten a salt water facial at no charge.

"I'm alright with Chris and Tracy thinking less of me." Danny was reliving what he thought were the last moments of his life as he was pulled through the water not being able to breathe.

"Danny, even Reuben can water ski. Do you really want him having one up on you?" Keith thought his last argument would be all Danny needed to try again. Good thing he knew him so well.

"Alright, give me that rope again and go over the instructions one more time. Not the one about letting go of the rope. I won't be forgetting that one again so soon." Danny said as he settled back to put his feet back into the skies that Keith had pulled towards him.

From the boat Shirley was beaming at her middle son as he finally gave the thumbs up to Reuben to start pulling him from the water. She was proud of his courage after what she knew had to be a very humiliating first try.

It took a good half dozen tries before Danny got up on the skis and then, he didn't stay up for long. Keith had probably swum close to a mile before Danny finally got up and stayed up. He treaded water watching his brother beam his way through several hundred yards of water. Reuben was doing his best to not get too far away from Keith in case Danny wiped out again, but it wasn't easy as he was also trying to make sure that Danny didn't have to ski through too much wake. As luck would have it, Danny stayed up long enough for Reuben to circle around and, just as Danny was about to pass Keith, he let go of the rope. He was beginning to sink gracefully into the water until something went wrong. He had pictured himself stopping like Keith, Laurie and his mom had, but instead he ended up stopping closer to the way Mr. Kincaid had – end over end.

As he came up sputtering, Keith was there to greet him. "Not bad – well at least until that last little bit."

"I don't know what went wrong." Danny was truly stunned by the last few seconds of his trip.

"You let your legs get separated." Keith pointed out. "Wanna try again?"

"Not today I don't. I think my arms are 6 inches longer than when I started this day. Besides, I'm not sure if I can remove my swim trunks from their current place of residence, if you know what I mean." Danny joked and reached below the water line trying to rectify the situation. Danny couldn't help but laugh himself when his comment sent Keith into another fit of laughter. As the boat approached they were both wiping tears from their eyes – Keith's were definitely from mirth but he wasn't sure if Danny's were from laughing or if he was in some pain from his latest wipe out.

"Ok, then. Here comes the boat. Take this ski and I'll go get the one you left back there." After making sure that Danny was going to make it back into the boat, Keith swam off to grab the recalcitrant ski that had caused Danny's spill.

Keith had just grabbed the ski when he heard everyone screaming at him to watch out. As he spun around, another boat was bearing down on him fast. The driver was watching his own water skier following the boat instead of where he was going. They were breaking the cardinal rule of water skiing which was to have a spotter watch the skier and the driver watch forward at all times.

At the last second, Keith let go of the ski and dove down below the water which wasn't easy considering he was wearing a life jacket that fought to bring him back to the top. He just hoped he could stay down long enough to clear the boat. He kicked downwards with everything he had left but he was pretty tired after spending so much time with Danny in the water. Thankfully his lungs were strong from singing so he could hold his breath for longer than most.

He spun around about 10 feet below the surface and watched the boat and its skier fly across the water above him. When he was sure he was clear, he let the life jacket pull him back to the surface. Once back on the surface he took several deep breaths before he realized his family was frantically screaming his name from about 300 feet away. He waved to them and finally Laurie spotted him. He floated waiting for Reuben to bring the boat to him. He was just too tired to swim over himself.

"Oh, Keith. Are you alright?" His mom was asking as soon as they pulled alongside him.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the warning." He said as he pulled himself into the boat. He was quickly surrounded by his family and pronounced whole by his very anxious mother.

"Where's the ski?" He asked as the furor died down.

"There it is." Chris said as he pointed at something floating in the water. When they grabbed it out of the water, there was a chunk broken out of the tip from where it hit the speed boat.

"Wow, Keith. That could have been your head." Danny said almost reverently.

Danny's comment caused Shirley to go pale and add quickly, "Well it wasn't. Thank goodness."

"How's about we call it a day? I think we're probably all done waterskiing, right?" Reuben suggested as he pushed the throttle forward. He knew that Shirley would never let Chris or Tracy in the water after that latest incident.

"Absolutely." Laurie agreed checking her brother over one more time out of the corner of her eye.

Shirley watched carefully as Keith removed the life vest and looked him over one more time for injury, pulling him in for a quick hug when she was done. Keith endured her protectiveness quietly as his near accident was finally hitting him too. He had been seconds away from a concussion at best and, who knows what else, had he been hit by the propeller.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Keith had jumped over the side of the boat onto the dock and tied off the boat so the rest of the family could disembark easily. Reuben was handing Keith the picnic basket, cooler and towels when Connie walked up. "So, how was your day? Did you all get a chance to ski?"

"Oh hi, Connie. We had a wonderful day." Shirley agreed not wanting to make Connie feel bad about their almost tragedy. Why tell her about it when it wasn't her fault and she couldn't have done anything about it. "Thank you so much for the use of the boat."

"It was our pleasure. No one would have been using it today, so I'm just glad we could add to your vacation fun." Connie beamed at them. "However, I do have a small favor to ask in return."

"Oh?" Danny asked suspiciously.

Shirley shot a quelling look at her middle child and smiled at Connie saying, "After our wonderful outing, we'd be happy to return the favor. What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing too painful I assure you. Bob and I would love it if you joined us at our house for a barbecue." Connie added quickly wanting them to know that they wouldn't be an inconvenience, "I've already invited my parents. We usually spend one night a week together. It gives them a chance to spend time with the kids."

"If you're sure seven extra guests wouldn't be an inconvenience." Shirley wrinkled her nose at the thought of seven unexpected guests in her own home.

"I'm positive. Besides, my kids would love to meet you. They're big fans." Connie added.

"Sounds lovely, how many kids do you have?" Shirley asked as the group started moving towards the parking lot.

"We have three. Beth is 15, Sandy is 13 and little B.J. is 10." Connie explained.

Laurie caught the ages of the females and couldn't help but tease Keith quietly, "Oh, isn't that wonderful. They have two teenage daughters."

Keith just rolled his eyes and hoped the evening went quickly. Nights like this could be uncomfortable at best and sometimes downright irritating. He'd try to stick as close to the adults as possible. Teenage girls could be quite devious in trying to get him into compromising positions.

xoxo

The family had gone back to the Randall mansion to clean up and change and then headed over to Bob and Connie's house, following the Nelson's car so they wouldn't get lost. Keith had actually hoped a couple of times that Reuben would get a flat and they would be forced to stop. He had been 'this close' to begging off for the night and asking to stay home to work on his new song. But he knew his Mom wouldn't go along with that, she'd already chastised him for working on his vacation. He almost prayed for divine intervention when he caught Laurie looking at him for the third time already. She had that stupid Cheshire cat look on her face that said she was going to enjoy his discomfort all evening.

The Family followed the Nelson's to the door of a very stately home not too far from Kip's place. Apparently pediatric surgeon's made a very nice living, Danny pointed out as they waited for someone to answer the door. A few moments later, the door was opened by a young male. Keith was elated to find out that Sandy wasn't a girl after all, but a teenage son who sought out Laurie, blushed and thereafter stared at her in worship. Laurie stiffened in surprise at the brief predatory look that came to his face and was quickly hidden. A look that went unnoticed by everyone else.

"Oh, come on Laurie. You were so looking forward to this evening. What's the matter? Someone watching your every move and sighing makes you uncomfortable? I mean, when you thought it was going to happen to me you were downright happy." Keith whispered in her ear.

Keith smiled angelically at the young man when he glared at him for getting so close to the girl of his dreams - even if he was her brother, he was still jealous. When Keith made to move away from Laurie and make it clear to Sandy that he had an open shot at his sister, Laurie grabbed onto his arm and wouldn't let go.

"Oh no you don't." Laurie hissed at Keith. "You are not leaving me to that baby wolf."

"Laurie, he's thirteen years old. What's he gonna do? Moon you to death? He wouldn't know what to do with you if he caught you." Keith chided quietly. After all he didn't want the Nelson's or the boy's parents hurt by his comments.

"Hah, you'd be surprised. And, besides, think of how many thirteen year old girls have chased you and knew exactly what they wanted to do to you when they caught you." Laurie threw back.

"Hmmm…guess you're right there. However, you tell me all the time that girls mature faster than boys."

"Ok, then try this on for size. Did you know what to do with a girl when you were thirteen?" Laurie's grip was getting tighter as she watched Keith absorb that thought.

"Right. Maybe you better stick close to me." Keith frowned. "I'll make you a deal. I'll protect you from Sandy if you protect me from Beth."

"Deal." Laurie pulled Keith into the house as they couldn't delay entering any longer. As it was the rest of the family had looked behind them to see what was keeping them.

They were shown to the back yard which had been set up with several picnic tables. Bob had been manning the barbecue with B.J.'s help. The Nelson's took care of introductions, "Bob, B.J., this is Shirley Partridge, Tracy, Chris, Danny, Mr. Kincaid their Manager and…..oh there you are, and this is Keith and Laurie." The last was said just as Laurie and Keith finally caught up to the rest of them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. Would anyone like something to drink?" As pleasantries were exchanged and drink orders taken, Bob handed off the barbecue tongs to Reuben as he took Sandy and B.J. into the house to grab the beverages.

"Keith, give me a hand would you?" Reuben asked. He looked up expectantly when Keith didn't answer right away. He noticed that he was having a hard time getting Laurie to let go of his arm.

"Laurie, for pete's sake, he's not even out here right now. Let go. Reuben needs my help." Keith was trying to pry Laurie's fingers from his arm.

"Let Danny help." Laurie continued to protest.

"Do you really want Danny that close to your food?" Keith's joking comment finally seemed to break Laurie out of her fearful mode.

"You're right. I'm being silly. What can happen with all of these people around, anyway?" Laurie let go and watched Keith walk away from her, trying to still her silly fears the whole time.

Keith got his first glimpse of Beth when the whole family came back out after fetching the drinks. She was a very pretty young girl, but also very shy. He blew out a breath in thanks - it looked like at best he would have to live with her throwing longing glances at him through her eyelashes all night. That would be easy enough to live with.

Laurie, after losing Keith as her protector, had moved over by Tracy and was now standing behind her with her hands on her shoulders. She was using Tracy as a human shield. And it was working nicely until B.J. offered to show Danny, Chris and Tracy his tree house. Once again, Laurie was left standing alone with Sandy moving closer with every second. When Connie mentioned that she was going back in the house to grab the rest of the food, Shirley offered to lend a hand with Laurie right behind her.

When Keith noticed that Sandy was going to follow them, Keith called him over and asked him to grab another tray as the one he was holding was getting full. Laurie shot him a grateful look over her shoulder as she headed out of sight with the rest of the women.

"So, Keith. I understand that you write the songs that your family sings." Bob said as he walked up and took the tray Keith was holding.

"Yeah, most of 'em anyway."

"I'm sure you hear this often, but I'm a frustrated musician myself. Maybe later you could give me some guitar lessons before you leave. Before I decided to become a surgeon, I played around with starting a band."

"Really, Dr. Kelley? What stopped you?" Keith asked.

"Bob, please. I realized that I was only a passable musician, but I was pretty darn good at science so med school won out. Besides, my father is an oncologist." Bob admitted.

"Ah, I see what you mean. I'm a much better musician than scientist myself." Keith said.

"That's a fact." Reuben piped in. When Keith looked at him as if he wasn't sure if that was an insult or a compliment. Reuben continued, "You should have seen him this past Monday. He put on quite a show at Mr. Randall's club in Miami. Completely won over Mr. Randal who agreed to produce the Family's next album."

"Really, that's pretty impressive. Kip's pretty selective about who he works with. It's not like record producing is his only source of income. He only works with the best." Bob was clearly impressed with this latest development. "Don't suppose you brought your guitar along?"

"Now why would the young man have brought his guitar along?" Connie asked as the women made there way outside with the rest of the food. "Sandy go get B.J. and the others. We're almost ready to eat."

"Why not, he's brought it along to some pretty unusual places before. Well, did you?" Laurie asked happy to see that Sandy had been sent off on an errand by his mother.

"Actually, it's in the trunk." Keith answered sheepishly as everyone laughed.

"That thing is like a security blanket to him." Laurie continued to tease.

Keith stepped over and whispered in her ear, "Keep it up little Miss Sunshine and I'll make sure you're alone with Sandy."

The smile quickly left Laurie's face. Thankfully only Keith noticed the change in Laurie's demeanor as the kids ran up making a racket.

xoxo

The food was excellent and at least one table had a great time. Laurie had maneuvered it so that she sat in between Keith and her mom and the Kelley's sat across from them with Mr. Kincaid. At the last second, Beth squeezed in between her parents giving her perfect access to gaze at Keith to her hearts content. The rest of the kids sat at another table with the Nelsons running herd over them. Sandy was not pleased.

Bob and Keith kept the dinner conversation lively. Bob with tales of his failed attempts at performing in high school and college and Keith with stories of life on the road with the family. Connie chipped in on Bob's stories as they started dating when he was in college and Shirley, Laurie and Reuben chipping in on Keith's stories. After all, they had been present for all of the Family adventures too. Keith, noticing again how shy Beth was, had gone out of his way to include her and had tried drawing her out on several occasions. By the end of the meal, she was contributing to the conversation and having a wonderful time. Beth was simply in heaven and every one of her friends was going to die with jealousy.

Everyone helped clean up the dinner mess which didn't take long seeing they had used paper plates and napkins. During the clean up, conversation turned to Bob's job as a pediatric surgeon. They discussed the children's ward at the hospital and how sad it was when children had to deal with illnesses. Shirley suggested that maybe they could stop at the hospital the next day to visit some of the kids. Bob jumped at the opportunity as he knew of several kids who were big fans. They encouraged kids to bring mementos from home that would help to cheer them up and some of them had pictures of Keith or the Family tacked onto cork boards. All of the Partridge kids agreed that a visit to the children's ward was definitely on the schedule for the next day.

Once finished they all moved into the living room. Bob asked Keith to get his guitar and disappeared to grab his from the back of his closet. They proceeded to jam on songs that Bob's previous bands had performed. Keith could see why Bob had decided on surgery for a living, but all-in-all was impressed with his skill as a recreational musician. Before long, Bob dropped out and Keith continued to play alone. He pulled Laurie into singing with him on some of the songs they had performed Monday night at the club.

Shirley was getting her first glimpse of how things must have gone in her absence. She was very proud of how good the two of them sounded as a duo. When they finished several songs, Shirley's applause was louder than everyone else's.

"That was wonderful!" She said beaming "Is that what you did at the club on Monday?"

"Sure is." Danny piped in, "They actually did about a dozen songs acoustically. Oh, Mom, I wish you could have seen the place. It was packed."

"Let's not remind her." Reuben jabbed Danny with his elbow and smiled uncomfortably at Shirley.

Connie, sensing that a touchy subject had been brought up said, "Does anyone want anything to drink? How about you Keith, you've been singing for about an hour now."

"That would be great! Water would be perfect."

As the rest of the drink requests were made, Beth and Connie left to fill the orders. Conversation flowed easily again among the rest of the room occupants. Laurie noticed Sandy watching her closely again and slid closer to Keith. She was sitting on the floor in front of the chair that he occupied and now she was practically attached to his right leg. Keith glanced at her questioningly and then followed her eyes to Sandy. He frowned at him hoping to discourage him, but Sandy appeared to ignore him.

Once the drinks were passed around, they talked Keith into continuing to play. He said the only way he would continue is if everyone joined in. They proceeded to have a very lively sing-along. The Partridge's could all sing, however, the Nelsons and Connie couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Thankfully the Kelley kids had inherited their father's singing voice which wasn't half bad. Mr. Kincaid had refused to utter one sound saying he 'managed' singers for a reason.

"Hey, Keith. Why don't you play your new song like you did at the club on Monday?" Reuben glared at Danny for bringing up the taboo subject once again, but thankfully Shirley let the club comment slide while picking up on the new song comment instead.

"What new song?" She asked.

"Oh, Mom. Wait'll you hear it. Go ahead Keith. Sing it for us." Laurie encouraged.

Keith performed 'Brown Eyes' to his second audience before it was even completed to his liking. Beth was once again in seventh heaven. She was sure she would be the most popular girl in school next week with all of the stories she would have to tell her friends.

Shortly afterwards, the party broke up with Shirley reminding everyone that the kids needed to get to sleep. As 'good-byes' were exchanged, they finalized plans to visit the children's ward at Bob's hospital. It worked out well as Friday's were days when surgery was rarely scheduled and Bob had an open morning to spend at the hospital. The Nelson's would bring the family over and they would meet with Bob around 9:00. Laurie was extremely grateful to hear that Connie and the Kelley kids were all scheduled for a school registration event and wouldn't be able to attend the hospital visit. Laurie didn't relax until they were in the car.

"Ok, you can let go of my arm now." Keith said as they drove away. "I'm going to have bruises you know."

"Sorry." Laurie said sheepishly and she finally pried her hands away.

"Yeah, I noticed you had attached yourself to Keith for most of the night. What's up with that?" Danny asked.

"Didn't you notice how that Sandy kid stared at me all night? It was downright creepy." Laurie shuddered as she thought about it.

"Ha, serves you right for teasing Keith about it earlier when you thought Sandy was a girl." Danny gloated. "Hey, come to think of it, that was a change of pace wasn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Shirley asked having been an avid listener to the conversation.

"Well, for once Keith wasn't the one who had to deal with the over zealous fan. Maybe you're slipping, Keith." He addressed his next comment to Mr. Kincaid. "What do you think? Should we start looking for another lead singer who's younger and better looking?"

"Keith's only seventeen, Danny. How much younger do you want?" Reuben pointed out.

"I was thinking maybe eleven, with loads of charm. Not to mention red hair and an impish grin." Danny said with a straight face.

"Anyone in mind, Reuben? We'll have to go outside the family for someone who matches that description." Keith tossed out.

"Not off hand. I suppose he should have some musical talent too. Don't you think? Shirley, any ideas?" Reuben passed the fun on to Shirley.

"Not a one. Guess we'll have to stick with Keith as lead singer until we can find someone." Shirley fought to keep a straight face.

"Shot down by my own family again." Danny muttered shaking his head. He had been sure he was going to get Keith with that one. Instead he ended up being the butt of the joke.

"Don't sweat it kid. In a few more years, with a total makeover and a paper bag to put over your head we might be able to sell your albums to the school for the deaf." Reuben added.

At Danny's crestfallen look the whole family erupted in laughter.

xoxo

Bob had informed the staff at the hospital of their impending visitors and there had been a buzz of excitement all morning. Especially excited were the younger nurses and the candy stripers that were all young enough to be excited to be meeting Keith Partridge. Well, meet may be too strong of a word; see from a distance was more likely to happen. The head nurse and the hospital administration had laid down the law – do your jobs or else. So, the excitement was muted, but not squelched completely.

Just before 9:00, an excited murmur started at the entrance to the ward and spread quickly down the hallway to the nurse's station set up at the center of the ward. They had arrived!

Bob had planned for the family to start in the solarium attached to the pediatrics ward. Here the kids who were well enough to be out of bed would be brought to meet the Family all at once. They would leave the youngest members of the family in the Solarium to play with the other children while Shirley, Keith and Laurie would visit those too sick to make it to the solarium. Bob and Shirley had thought it best that the youngest kids not be exposed to the reality of the sickest kids on the ward.

Danny perked up right away when he realized that he was going to have the same opportunity he'd had on the plane. All he had to do was position himself near the nurses who were congregated on the outskirts of the kids and listen to them discuss Keith amongst themselves. He was a little disappointed as the nurses seemed to be controlling themselves better than the stewardesses had. However, he struck gold when he got closer to the candy stripers that were all younger than the nurses. Every single candy striper was completely in awe of their current visitor. 'Isn't he cute', 'look at how good he is with the kids' and 'he is so sweet' were all comments heard on a regular basis.

At Bob's suggestion, Keith had brought his guitar along and soon they had a sing along going. Keith raised the kid's appreciation of Dr. Kelley several degrees when he talked him into playing the guitar on one of the songs. Bob paid him back by suggesting to the kids that it would be a good idea if the Family performed some of their songs for the kids. Soon Keith, Laurie and, a surprised but game, Shirley were playing an acoustic set for the very happy patients, nurses and candy stripers.

Reuben had brought along pictures that the family happily autographed and gave to each of the eager kids. If the nurses and candy stripers made requests for 'little sisters and nieces at home', no one commented, they just signed, smiled and handed them the picture.

After leaving the youngest Partridges in the solarium under the watchful eye of Mr. Kincaid, Shirley, Keith and Laurie headed out to visit the sicker kids in their rooms. This part of the visit was much harder emotionally on the three of them. Dr. Kelley accompanied them to each of the rooms, told them what was wrong with the child and whether or not they were expected to recover. Dr. Kelley didn't want them accidentally telling a terminal child that they were sure they'd recover.

After about the sixth child, Shirley and Laurie both had tears in their eyes as they left the room. "Only one more to go. Do you think you can make it?" Dr. Kelley asked. "I know this is really hard, especially when you're not used to being around sick children."

"How do you do it every day?" Laurie asked as she tried to collect herself for the next visit.

"Well, you celebrate the ones that you send home healthy and mourn, and move to a special place in your heart, each of the ones you lose. It's a skill that you have to build if you want to survive in this world. Thankfully, we send more kids home than not. And, with each passing year, with improvements to medicine, our success rate gets better."

"Makes me very happy I'm not that great in science." Keith went back to their conversation from the previous night.

"There must be a great sense of accomplishment in making people happy with your music and performing, huh?" Dr. Kelley said.

"Not as great as healing someone and sending them home to a grateful family, but it has its moments." Keith agreed

"Well, frame of mind has a lot to do with the healing process. And, I can tell you from experience, your visit today will go a long way towards helping many of these kids heal. Have you been paying attention to the look on the faces of all these young people? The fact that you're here and just talking to them will help some of them, your visit gives them hope."

"Well, let's continue to spread 'hope'." Keith tried to lighten the mood.

"That's the spirit. Ready for Megan? She's sixteen years old and has an inoperable brain tumor, but has outlived expectations several times over. She's a fighter, that's for sure. And, she's a HUGE fan. Wait until you see her room. It's plastered with your pictures Keith. You'll probably feel like your looking into several mirrors." Bob joked.

"Great, just what I need, multiples of my brother." Laurie played along.

Keith just rolled his eyes and followed Dr. Kelley into the next room. When they entered Keith was actually surprised – Dr. Kelley hadn't been exaggerating. There had to be at least two dozen pictures from fan magazines taped to almost ever surface in the room.

"Hey Megan!" Dr. Kelley said softly to the girl lying in bed with her eyes closed. She had very short hair that was growing back after her last bouts of chemo and radiation in an attempt to shrink the tumor that would one day take her life.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson." Dr. Kelley addressed the couple that was seated on the far side of Megan's bed. Looking back at Megan he continued, "How are you feeling today? Is this one of your good days or bad days?"

"It's more middle of the road, Dr. K." Megan answered in a soft voice. "What are you doing here today? I wasn't expecting you."

"Actually, I brought you a couple of special visitors. Megan, I'd like to you to meet some new friends of mine. I'm pretty sure I won't have to introduce you." With that, Bob stepped aside and Shirley, Laurie and Keith stepped forward into Megan's line of sight.

Upon seeing her idol standing not 5 feet away from her, Megan's jaw dropped and when it finally sunk all the way in, she began to cry softly.

"Megan, are you alright?" Mrs. Johnson asked as she grabbed Megan's right hand.

Megan could only nod.

"Megan, we just wanted to stop by and talk to you for a few minutes, but if that's too much, we can come back later." Shirley offered, not wanting to put the already weakened girl into further distress.

"Oh, no please!" Megan said, "You just surprised me, that's all. And, I must look just awful."

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." This from her father who had been surprised by the show of tears from his daughter who had been the strong one throughout her whole illness.

"Your father is right, Megan. You look wonderful." Her mother added.

Megan snuck a peak at Keith to see if his expression was one of disgust at her almost nonexistent hair and wane face. Instead she saw him grinning at her and, when he caught her glance, he winked. This unexpected response brought a pretty smile to her lips and a very becoming blush to her cheeks. Though her eyes were still swimming in tears, they now had a very happy sparkle.

Laurie, noticing the effect her brother was having on Megan, decided to jump in and ask some questions before the poor girl became a pile of mush. She asked her questions about school, clothes and music. Laurie found out that they had many like interests and the conversation flowed freely. Laurie made no comment as she noticed Megan, though trying very hard to look at Laurie while she talked to her, sneaking peaks at Keith every chance she had.

Mr. & Mrs. Johnson had come around to the same side of the bed and had engaged Shirley, Keith and Dr. Kelley in conversation so Keith wasn't aware of the surreptitious glances he was receiving. Laurie decided to take pity on Megan and pulled Keith into their conversation saying, "Keith, didn't you just say the other day that the new Clapton album was one of your favorites?"

"I sure did." Keith answered, "Why, Megan, is it one of yours too?"

"He's my second favorite musician." Megan said.

"Oh yeah? Who's your first?" To everyone else in the room, Keith's question was rhetorical taking into consideration all of the pictures of himself that surrounded them.

"Keith really. Don't make the poor girl state the obvious." Laurie chided her brother. It amazed her that at times he could be so unaware of how popular he was with the opposite sex while at other times he knew exactly how much power he held over them.

"Right. Sorry." Keith said a little sheepishly as he glanced around at the pictures of himself.

The adults in the room could only laugh.

Conversation picked back up between the three teenagers after Laurie broke the uncomfortable silence following the laughter by asking Megan if she was going to be able to start the school year on time. Megan was supposed to be released in about a week which meant she would miss several days of classes. So far, with the help of teachers and friends, she had been able to keep up with her class even though she had been in and out of hospitals for the last 3 years.

Shirley, noticing that the teens were having a great time together, suggested that the adults leave them alone for a while and get some coffee. Shirley, Dr. Kelley and Megan's parents made their way to a vending machine in a waiting room. "How would you like to meet the rest of my family?" Shirley asked as they headed toward the solarium.

Back in Megan's room, the conversation had turned towards school dances with Megan mentioning that she had missed the prom last year because she had been in the hospital. "No real loss there." Keith mentioned.

"No loss! Are you kidding Keith? Remember how you made the biggest sacrifice of your young life just to take Carol to your prom?" Laurie reminded him.

"Sure, I remember. Did you really expect me to forget that I sold my car just to be able to take her? But, the dance itself was no big thing." Keith said nonchalantly.

"Oh wow! You really sold your car to take a girl to the prom. I would have died to have someone do something that romantic for me." Megan said dreamily.

"I wouldn't exactly call it romantic." Keith was getting more uncomfortable with the conversation. Deep down he could admit he was a bit of a romantic, but to admit it to two females might make him seem soft. Romanticism had its place, like in song writing. He figured the girls would be pretty crushed to find out that he'd had more selfish reasons for doing what he had. Taking Carol to the dance had not been his only goal for that evening.

"Oh? I'd say it was very romantic. Probably one of the most selfless things you've ever done Keith Partridge." Laurie said.

Megan nodded and Keith was really beginning to squirm. No one in the family knew that night's outcome and he planned to keep it that way. Keith asked a question to deflect the conversation away from him, "So, Megan, who was going to take you to the prom you missed?"

"No one special. I was going to go with my girl friends. I haven't had a boyfriend since I got sick 3 years ago." Megan admitted. "What I wouldn't have given to have you as my date Keith."

At that last comment, Megan looked down, tears springing to her eyes and her face flaming with embarrassment. She was mortified that it had accidentally slipped out. I mean, it was obvious that she had a thing for Keith, but to admit it in words to his face, that was too much. She prayed that the bed would malfunction and swallow her up as it folded in half taking her away from what she was sure was the most embarrassing moment of her life.

"Laurie, could you give us a few minutes?" Keith asked noticing her mortification.

"Sure, Keith." Laurie headed quickly towards the door hoping that Keith could salvage a very special day for Megan.

Once Laurie was out of the room, Keith sat on the side of Megan's bed and grabbed her chin lightly turning her face up to his. "Open your eyes, Megan." He urged.

"I can't." She said, a couple of tears squeezed past her lashes and trailed down her still red cheeks.

"Yes, you can. Come on." Keith pleaded. "Megan, I'm not laughing at you. In fact, I'm very flattered. I wish I had known you at that time because I would have been proud to be your date."

At his comments, Megan peeked timidly through her lashes to judge his sincerity. At the very open and honest look on his face, she fully opened her eyes to gaze deeply into his.

"Tell you what, why don't I tell you how I think our date would have gone." At her timid nod of ascent, Keith grabbed her hand and continued, "I'd pull up in front of your house in the bus. Remember, I just sold my car so the bus is my only mode of transportation."

"Right. I remember. What are you wearing? I want to be able to picture everything in my mind." Megan said her eyes shining both from her recent tears and the excitement of fantasizing about a date with Keith Partridge.

"I'm wearing a black tuxedo with a bow tie. Danny even tells me I look like David Niven." Keith leaves off the part where Danny adds that Keith has longer hair, no mustache and is uglier. "What color is your dress?"

"It's emerald green." Megan closes her eyes to picture herself in her dream dress and Keith in his tux.

"Ah, a perfect match for your eyes." Megan's eyes spring open at Keith's comment. He'd looked at her closely enough to remember the color of her eyes. Megan felt herself falling further in love.

"I'd have a corsage that matched perfectly and I'd pin it on you in front of your parents. Completely uncomfortable the whole time, terrified that I'm going to stick you with the pin." Keith's honest and thorough description caused Megan to giggle.

Keith continued to explain in great detail their time at the dance. Megan helped Keith chose all of the songs they would dance to and the ones they'd rather sit out and chat through.

They were so lost in their fairy tale story that they never heard the door open slightly or noticed Laurie peak around the corner to see how things were going. She let the door close soundlessly and walked down the hallway looking for her mom. Keith was making Megan a very happy young girl and Laurie would not interfere. However, she could run interference with the adults and give Keith plenty of time to finish up with Megan's fantasy.

Keith's story was mirroring his dream night with Carol for his prom. He was certain that Carol wouldn't mind him sharing it in order to bring some happiness to a very sick girl. He had no intention of sharing the latter parts of the evening with Megan, but he could certainly give her all of the more innocent details. "When the dance ends, we would both be very disappointed, but we'd have memories to last us a lifetime."

"Oh, Keith, that sounds just wonderful." Megan's face was dreamy. "What happens next?"

"I'd drive you home and walk you to the door. But neither of us would want the date to end just yet."

"That's for sure. What next?" Megan's eyes were bright with happiness.

"Well, then I'd lean in and…." Keith put actions to his words and leaning forward he lightly kissed Megan's parted lips. He lingered and felt Megan's sigh rush over his lips. He took one more liberty before ending the kiss and that was to run his tongue lightly over her bottom lip. When Keith began to pull back, Megan moved forward hoping to retain the contact. Her dreams were coming true and she didn't want to wake up, not for a very, very long time.

Laurie, hoping she had given them plenty of time to finish up, was walking ahead of the group that was headed back to Megan's room. If they were still in mid-fantasy, she wanted time to warn them that they were about to be interrupted.

Making plenty of noise, Laurie pushed open the door and stepped quickly inside. She witnessed Keith ending the kiss while announcing, "We're back." She mouthed a 'sorry' to both of them as the rest of the adults filed into the room.

Keith quickly got off the bed and moved to stand next to Laurie. Megan, not wanting to lose her fantasy so quickly closed her eyes and licked her lips languidly. She could definitely still taste him. A very pleased and satisfied smile spread over her face while she wrapped her arms around herself as if to hold the memories as close as possible.

Mrs. Johnson, seeing the dreamy look on her daughters face wasn't sure if she should be upset at what had obviously taken place in her absence or to be as radiantly happy as her daughter presently was. Happiness for her daughter quickly won out. Mr. Johnson, though not nearly as sure of the reasons for his daughter's happiness was stunned to see a smile on his daughter's face that would shame angels. He had never seen her so happy.

Shirley Partridge also noticed Megan's dreamy state and looked assessingly at Keith. She couldn't read his face, but he wouldn't meet her look either. Regardless, he had made Megan very happy and she couldn't fault him for that. It was quite obvious that her son had made another conquest.

Dr. Kelley reminded everyone that Megan needed her rest and started moving the guests to the door. Mrs. Johnson, wanting to spend some time alone with her daughter asked her husband to escort the Partridge's out and make sure they were aware of just how appreciative the whole family was for their visit. Mrs. Johnson wanted to give Megan ample opportunity for some quality mother/daughter time. They had always been close and she was sure that Megan would want to share at least part of what had gone on in the absence of the adults. She was pretty sure that Megan had experienced her first kiss with a boy – the disease had struck just as she was beginning to like boys and she had not had a chance to date before her illness made it hard to meet boys who could look past the hair loss and other side effects of her treatments. Mrs. Johnson was almost brought to tears by how happy her daughter looked. Happier than she could ever remember, and certainly since the brain tumor had been discovered 3 years ago. Mrs. Johnson said a very quick prayer of thanks for the Partridge Family but most especially Keith. The joy that Keith had brought to her daughter that day was better than any medicine.

xoxo

The drive back to Kip's home was lively to say the least. The three youngest Partridge's were all sharing stories of the new friends they had made, each trying to talk louder than the next instead of waiting their turn. While the three youngest Partridges were all giddy with excitement, the two oldest were introspective and quiet. Shirley noticed the marked difference in her offspring and knew that it had everything to do with Megan and the other sicker kids that they had visited that day. She'd have to make a point of watching Keith and Laurie to make sure that they didn't suffer any lingering effects of their visits.

Once back at the mansion, it was decided that the rest of the day would be spent on the beach relaxing. Tomorrow morning it was off to Miami and then back home.

On the beach, Danny, Chris and Tracy all headed to the shoreline to build the most spectacular sand castle the state of Florida had ever seen or so they said was their goal. After much trying, they finally stopped bugging Laurie and Keith to help them and trotted off. Danny took charge and began issuing orders immediately upon reaching their destination.

Keith and Laurie deposited the cooler they had carried between the two of them under the umbrella Shirley had just erected in hopes that the ice inside would melt slow enough to keep the drinks cool for the rest of the afternoon. Shirley dropped into a chair next to the cooler and under the shade of the same umbrella to enjoy the book she had brought along to read. Keith and Laurie moved a little further down the beach, laid out a blanket and plopped themselves down in a last ditch effort to darken their tans before leaving the sunshine state.

After lying in silence for a good half an hour, Laurie finally broached the subject that had been gnawing at her since they left the hospital. "Keith, are you alright?"

"Sure, why do you ask?" Keith answered lazily. He had been half asleep when Laurie started talking.

"I don't know. I just thought maybe you'd be thinking about Megan."

"I am, but what about it?" Keith finally glanced over at his sister.

"I've been close to tears ever since we left. I just can't help but feel so bad for her. She'll probably never get to go to college, get married, have kids….there are so many things she may never get to do and it just makes me so sad." Laurie's eyes filled with the tears she was trying so hard not to shed.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm trying to do what Dr. Kelley said, I'm trying to find the happiness in today and file the sadness away in a place that is special." Keith said softly. "I'm not being very successful with that yet, but I'm still trying."

"I see what you mean – Remember the look on her face when she recognized us?" Laurie said smiling a little sadly. "I thought she was going to pass out when she noticed you were there."

"Yeah, that was not one of my favorite moments though. I preferred the look on her face after I kissed her." Keith grinned in memory of her dreamy look.

"You better explain that one brother dear. What exactly were you doing kissing her anyway?" Laurie asked

"Well, remember how she said she was sad because she had missed her prom?"

"Yes, I remember. What's that got to do with you kissing her?"

"Well, I borrowed parts of my prom night with Carol and took her on a make believe date. How else do you end a date, but to kiss her goodnight?" Keith said it as if the answer was obvious.

"You Casanova! Only you, Keith Partridge, would take the opportunity to kiss a girl you barely know and after only a make believe date." Laurie couldn't help but laugh at her brother's reasoning.

"Come on Laurie. You saw her hospital room. It's obvious she has a little bit of a crush on me." Keith said uncomfortably.

"A little! I'll give you the crush part, but you are way off with the 'little' part of your statement. That girl was head over heels for you and you know it." Laurie teased.

"My point exactly."

"I don't follow." Laurie really didn't get that last comment.

"Laurie, if a guy who wasn't going to live to experience all of the normal things that a teenager should get to experience was in love with you, wouldn't you have at least tried to give them part of that in any way possible?" Keith reasoned.

"Well, your reasoning is a little shady, but I have to admit the results were definitely first class. That girl will have a very happy memory to recall whenever life gets her down."

"Exactly." Keith agreed.

"It had nothing to do with the fact that she was a pretty girl and you just couldn't help yourself, could it?" Laurie was trying to get Keith to admit that his motives may have been just a little selfish.

"Really, Laurie, what kind of guy do you think I am?" Keith tried to look hurt, but a smirk was playing with the side of his lips.

"Oh, I don't know. A normal seventeen year old who only thinks about…"

"Laurie!" Danny called from the beach. "Give us a hand will ya?"

"Saved by Danny, of all things." Keith mumbled as Laurie's attention was drawn away from their conversation.

xoxo

After dinner that evening, they received a call from Kip apologizing that he wasn't going to be able to send his jet to get them from Naples to Miami. The Chicago airport was socked in with fog. They would need to drive or charter another jet. Reuben almost choked at the cost he was quoted for a private flight to Miami, so it was decided that they would drive, check into a motel for the night and catch their morning flight to San Francisco. It was also decided that they could not fit seven people and all of the luggage into one car. Mr. Nelson offered his vehicle as the second car so they wouldn't have to rent another car. Unfortunately, they were leaving late in the day and he suffered from night blindness so couldn't offer to do any of the driving. If Keith was willing to drive, Mr. Nelson was willing to be the navigator. In the lead vehicle would be Keith driving, Mr. Nelson navigating and Laurie and Danny would share the back seat with some of the smaller luggage. In the other car, Reuben, Shirley, Chris and Tracy and the rest of the luggage would follow. The drive was only a little over two hours, they should be in Miami by 11:30 or so.

Luck was not with them as the night was dark and it rained heavily making visibility poor at the best of times and downright nasty at others. This slowed them down considerably and was causing eye strain for both Keith and Reuben, not to mention Mr. Nelson and Shirley who did their best to help spot any problems. Even with two sets of eyes in each car staring intently through the windshield that the wipers were never really able to clear, it was inevitable that they would miss something. Keith, by luck, saw the blob of something in the road just in time to steer around it, but Reuben wasn't so lucky. Keith watched it happen through his rearview mirror. Reuben hit the debris with his right front tire. Seconds later his tire blew. As Reuben struggled to pull the car safely to the side of the road, Keith slowed and pulled over slightly ahead of them.

"Laurie, hand me my jacket will you?" Keith asked.

"Where are you going?" She asked as she handed the jacket over the seat.

"To help Reuben. Do you have a flashlight?" The last was addressed to Mr. Nelson who reached into the glove box and handed him a good sized flash light. "Thanks. The rest of you stay in the car." Keith instructed as he checked for oncoming traffic and then stepped out into the rain. He held his jacket above his head hoping to protect himself from the downpour as much as possible. Within seconds he was soaked.

He met Reuben standing by the front of the rental car. "How bad is it?" Keith asked

"There doesn't appear to be any other damage, but the tire is definitely flat." Reuben tried to joke, still a little shook up by his fight to bring the speeding car to a safe stop.

"You don't say. Got the keys? I'll get the spare and the jack from the trunk." Keith held out his hand and Reuben dropped the keys in his waiting hand.

"Be careful!" This from Shirley who had cracked her window to voice her obvious concern.

"We will." Reuben assured her as Keith stepped behind the rental and began unloading luggage so that he could get at the spare.

"Reuben, can you go and see if Mr. Nelson's car has a better tire iron, this is one of those cheap pieces of crap." Keith asked as he dropped the tire on the side of the road and began to work on popping off the hub cab that had somehow remained on the blown tire. He'd already abandoned his jacket to the hood of the car and reached up to push his wet hair out of his face.

Mr. Nelson's tire iron was slightly better but not the preferred four headed iron and Keith and Reuben struggled to loosen the air wrench tightened lug nuts. After they finally loosened the last nut, Reuben began jacking up the car.

"Hey, I think the rain is letting up." He commented as he continued to pump the jack to raise the tire off of the shoulder of the road.

"How can you tell?" Keith asked as he ran both hands through his hair that was now as wet as if he had gone swimming.

"That last semi that went by only sent a small wave of water at us instead of the usual tidal wave." He joked.

"Yeah, and me without my surfboard." Keith shot back.

Fifteen minutes later, they were ready to get back in their cars. "We should probably try to find an all night gas station and check that rear tire before we go too much further." Keith mentioned. "You probably hit whatever it was in the road with both tires and we don't want to risk another blow out before we get to Miami."

"Good idea. Keep your eyes peeled for one once we get going again." Reuben agreed.

"Don't drip on the upholstery. Remember it's a rental." Keith shot over his shoulder as he jogged back to Mr. Nelson's car.

"Very funny!" Reuben yelled as he slipped into the car. "Your oldest is a real comedian, Shirl. He just told me not to drip on the upholstery. I'm pretty sure dripping is several levels below what I'm capable of. Do you have a towel or anything?"

Keith and Reuben did their best to dry off enough to make the last leg of the journey just a little more comfortable. They both changed their shirts, but their pants would have to wait for more privacy. Even after drying off as much as possible, they were both still miserably wet.

Laurie had just found a towel in her carryon when Danny said, "You look like a drowned rat."

"What'd you expect? It's a downpour out there and it's not like there was any cover." Keith stated the obvious.

"Really Danny. You were even saying how hard it was to see what they were doing the rain was coming down so hard." Laurie said as she reached over and attempted to absorb the worst of the water from Keith's hair while he pulled back into traffic. At Keith's glance at her in the rearview mirror she continued, "Your hair is dripping all over your dry shirt."

"Well make sure you don't block his view of the road." Danny cracked.

"Put a sock in it Danny. Thanks Laurie, I appreciate that." Keith said as he checked the rearview mirror again to make sure Reuben was right behind them.

A short ways down the road they pulled off the highway and stopped at the all night gas station. The attendant working had them pull Reuben's car into the garage. Once under the lights, they looked the car over thoroughly and found no further damage. Both took the opportunity to change the rest of their clothes and were finally dry once again.

They were all beyond happy to see the motel that Mr. Nelson had recommended that was only a few blocks from the airport. It was now approaching 2 am and their two hour drive had turned into a 5 hour fiasco.

They checked in and carried the sleeping kids up to the rooms for the couple of more hours of sleep they could get. The adults, unfortunately, would definitely be lacking in sleep, a state that Keith was becoming very accustomed to lately. First on his agenda was a shower not sleep. Though he had been dry for the last stretch of the drive he hadn't had a chance to really clean up and felt downright dirty. Clean was a state he desired beyond anything else at the moment. Reuben had headed off to his room to accomplish the same thing.

Two short hours later, they were headed down to the café for breakfast and copious amounts of coffee.

"Do you always have these problems when you travel?" Mr. Nelson asked Reuben when they met outside the restrooms by the pay phones. Reuben had called the airport to advise them of their arrival and wanted to get security in place just in case.

"Not usually. We seldom travel by plane, but after this summer's successful tour, Keith's popularity just keeps growing. It's a problem I will not complain about. However, keeping him safe in situations like an airport are becoming a problem." Reuben went on to explain what happened in San Francisco and again at the hotel in Miami. "So, you can see why I've become ultra careful when it comes to security in public places."

"What I wouldn't have done to have that problem in my younger days." Mr. Nelson chuckled. At Reuben's puzzled look he continued, "girls chasing me everywhere I go."

"It may look glamorous from the outside and most of the time I think Keith really enjoys it. But, at times, it's like living in a fish bowl. His life is no longer normal once away from San Pueblo. At least at home, people seem to leave him alone." Reuben pointed out the downside of the Family's popularity growing every day.

"Well, its daylight now and I can drive the last stretch to the airport. Then Keith can just get out of the car and take off to wherever it is they need to take him." Mr. Nelson offered.

"Great! I'll drop the rental car off after taking Shirley and the younger kids to the terminal. You can pick me up at the car rental office and then I can make sure Keith gets through the airport without trouble." Reuben planned as they walked back to the family sitting around a big table finishing their breakfast.

"Everyone done?" At everyone's nod of assent Reuben added, "Then let's go. Our plane leaves in a couple of hours."

Reuben hoped that they would get to the airport early enough that the crowds would be fairly small and they'd be able to get through the airport without being noticed. He did not want a repeat of their earlier trip especially with Chris and Tracy along this time. They were little enough to get hurt in a crowd. And, beside that, Shirley hadn't been told of their last airport incident and he'd rather keep it that way. The less the leader of the Family worried, the easier Reuben's life was.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Reuben's fears were unfounded and the family made it through the airport and into the first class lounge without incident. It helped that they hadn't been sited in Miami for several days and most people thought the family had long left the sunny state of Florida.

Reuben glanced around the lounge to see Chris and Tracy, who had slept through most of the evening's events, playing a game of checkers on a table in front of the couch that Shirley was lounging on; her eyes only half open. She was fighting sleep not willing to take her eyes off of her youngest in a public place. Danny was sound asleep with his head on her lap. He'd valiantly stayed awake for the whole drive and had been falling asleep at every opportunity since.

On a couch across from the one where Shirley and Danny were ensconced were Keith and Laurie. Laurie was fighting sleep, trying to stay awake as long as possible. She had never been one to nap and hated being woken up before she had a full nights sleep. Keith, who had definitely mastered the art of cat naps, was 'out to the world' with his head resting on Laurie's shoulder. Everyone assumed it was because he kept very strange hours normally. It irritated Shirley that her son would come home from school, do his homework, take a nap, eat dinner, go out on a date and then stay up half the night writing music. He said the middle of the night was his most creative time. At times, he would get only 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. Shirley often wondered and worried about what his alternate lifestyle would bring. It definitely kept her vigilant.

The Family had been performing for a little over a year now and Shirley often told Reuben that she was 'making it up as she went'. Her previous thoughts and ideas of what made a good parent had taken several unusual curves in the past year. She'd had to realize that her kids were growing up faster than most kids. But, it was what they wanted, right? They all willingly gave up free time to practice and even found that giving up performing was not something any of them were willing to do after their brief retirement about a half a year ago. The kids had all said they wanted to stop performing when they'd all thought that was what Shirley had wanted to do. Thankfully that experiment had ended quickly and Reuben had started booking shows immediately after.

She had made a deal with them when they talked her into this whole idea of starting a singing group – grades must be kept up and all extra money was put into trust funds for their college educations. No one had balked at the rules since this whole crazy trip had started. She'd even had to work out special agreements with the schools in which the kids could miss the occasional Monday or Friday in order for them to travel to an engagement. Reuben did his best to book shows close to home during the school year, but at times there were 'offers too good to pass up' and the kids would miss a day of classes. Through it all, the family had remained relatively sane and the kids were amazingly grounded in reality. All a tribute to their mother and her ability to adapt to whatever Reuben threw their way.

Reuben scanned the room again and looked at the family that he had started to think of as his own. Odd considering that he was a confirmed bachelor who told anyone who would listen that he hated kids. How did someone with his chosen lifestyle end up managing a family with 5 irritating but talented kids and one amazingly strong and talented mother? Temporary insanity that turned into something a little more permanent was the only explanation he could come up with on short notice.

xoxo

A short time later, Reuben was told that they could board the plane. He walked over and gently shook Shirley's shoulder waking her from the sleep she had just recently lost her battle against. "Time to board."

Shirley quickly blinked the sleep from her eyes and took a quick inventory of her children sprawled around the room. She couldn't help but smile at their beautiful faces all around her – Chris and Tracy still playing quietly at the table, Danny smiling secretively in his sleep most likely dreaming about being rich and her two oldest across from her. Laurie, who had also recently lost her hold on the conscious world, and Keith sleeping peacefully next to each other – Keith's head on Laurie's shoulder and Laurie's head now resting lightly on her brother's.

She gently shook Danny awake and once he was standing and sleepily wiping his eyes, she got up and headed over to gently wake her two eldest. "Come on sleepy heads. It's time to board the plane."

"What?" Laurie asked before she was fully awake. The comment did not make sense to her sleep deprived brain.

"The plane. You know the big silver thing with wings and jet engines that's going to take us home." Danny who had been awake longer piped up helpfully.

Laurie was quickly coming back to reality, "haha funny man. Come on Keith. I know you could really use more beauty sleep, but it's time to go." She used her right hand to lift her brother's head off of her shoulder even though she knew he wasn't fully awake yet.

"Just a few more minutes, ok?" Keith mumbled fighting wakefulness with everything he had.

As Danny dramatically drew in a deep breath, Shirley reached over and put her hand firmly over his mouth effectively stopping his plan to wake Keith with his normal military yell. "Not this time." She smiled sweetly at her middle son who looked hurt that she had taken away his fun.

"Come on Keith wake up." Laurie said out loud then leaning in to whisper in Keith's ear, "If you wake up, you get to go see pretty stewardesses."

That last comment brought Keith's eyes open rather quickly. "Thought that might do the trick." Laurie said smugly not even realizing the Keith was thinking of Lyla specifically while Laurie had meant stewardesses in general.

Keith just pulled a face as he stretched and yawned. His yawn caught on and soon everyone in the family was following suit – Shirley delicately trying to hide hers behind the same hand that she had recently placed over Danny's mouth. Chris and Tracy found the display to be quite entertaining and giggled.

xoxo

Keith only caught a glimpse of Lyla as they boarded and didn't get a chance to talk to her for even a few seconds. Reuben, however, was pleasantly surprised to find Bonnie was the first class attendant for the flight. Bonnie was equally pleased to see who her passengers would be for the flight. She and Reuben had dated a couple of times over the last few months even though their first meeting had been her chasing him hoping that he could get her in show business. She'd soon given up that dream, but had remembered Reuben to be a good looking and very nice eligible bachelor. She'd run into him at a club one night a little while later and he'd asked her out. She had very happily accepted and they'd seen each other every time she'd been in town since then. He'd often talked about his work with the Partridge family over dinner. Though she had met Keith earlier that week at the club, she was looking forward to meeting Shirley and the rest of the family. If they were half as nice as Reuben had told her, she was in for a very pleasant flight. It wasn't unusual to have some very uptight and arrogant first class passengers who expected you to wait on them hand and foot. This flight, if Reuben's description was accurate, should be pleasant to say the least.

Reuben introduced Bonnie to Shirley and watched as the two most prominent women currently in his life, outside of his mother, exchanged pleasantries. They were quite a contrast, Shirley's blond beauty against Bonnie's darker more sultry good looks.

"Just let me know if you need anything and I'll take care of it." Bonnie was saying.

"I think we'll be a very easy flight for you. We're all so exhausted from our sleepless night you'll be lucky if anyone is awake within the hour." Shirley looked at her kids who had already taken their assigned seats; her three oldest already had their eyes closed.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to catch up on my reading or something." Bonnie laughed at the obviously exhausted group who made up her job for the next five hours.

"You can play games with us while my Mommy sleeps." Tracy offered.

"I think we can arrange that." Bonnie smiled at Tracy. That would not be a hardship for her, she loved kids.

Twenty minutes later they were airborne and heading back to San Francisco. As predicted, most of the Partridges and Reuben slept through the first several hours of the flight while Bonnie happily played with Chris and Tracy. She would occasionally excuse herself to check on the pilots but otherwise entertained the only passengers who were awake under her watch.

The flight was smooth until they hit the Rockies. That's when things got a little bumpy, apparently there were some pretty strong winds whipping down the mountainsides that made for some turbulence. It did effectively put an end to most of the sleeping and thus Bonnie's play time. She was soon serving drinks and snacks to the weary passengers. It kept her busy enough that when the pilots called for another round of coffee, she asked Lyla to take up the order. Lyla happily complied knowing that it would give her the opportunity to see Keith if not talk with him.

Keith, who had taken the aisle seat for this flight, saw Lyla sachet by and toss a smile over her shoulder. He quickly got up and headed toward the lavatory. Thankfully Mom and the kids were on the opposite side of the plane from he and Laurie and he quickly moved out of the site of everyone but Laurie who was completely absorbed in her magazine.

When Lyla exited the cockpit, she saw Keith leaning against the wall just outside of the lavatory door. She grinned, grabbed the door, pulled it open and yanked Keith inside the small room with her. She wasted no time in launching herself into his arms and planting her lips firmly on his. Keith was a willing participant in her spur of the moment plan.

They had just come up for air when they heard a soft rap on the door. Lyla, whose hands had been buried deeply in Keith's hair, quickly moved them to her mouth to stifle her giggle that had bubbled unexpectedly to the surface. She assumed it was a case of nerves now that she was sure they'd been caught. She was in deep trouble if it was one of the flight personnel. She could even lose her job for fraternizing with a passenger.

"Lyla?" They heard Bonnie softly say from the other side of the door. "I know you're in there." After a short pause and no response from the occupants she continued, "Come out now, and I won't say anything."

"I better go." Lyla said after letting her hands fall to Keith's shoulders and fought the urge to kiss him again.

"Yeah, you better." Keith noticed her eyes drop to his mouth and lost his fight to not kiss her again. As Keith's mouth descended, Lyla's hands rose to push him away but quickly ended up buried in his hair once again and she passionately returned his kisses.

"Lyla!" this time there was definite edge to Bonnie's voice.

Breathing heavily, Keith and Lyla broke apart once again. Lyla had to unwrap her right leg from around Keith's hips, but she valiantly tried to put a little space in between them. Space that had definitely not been there a moment ago. Space that was at a premium in the tiny room.

"Ok, Keith, remove your hands from my….just remove them." Lyla instructed and watched as Keith raised his hands to shoulder level and left them up as if in a stickup. She watched him closely as a very big grin began to spread across his face.

"Now, don't move." She tried pulling herself together but found it very hard with that completely sexy grin on his face. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath which was a big mistake because all she could smell was Keith's warm skin. "I am so going to regret this." She said as she reached for the door latch. Keith stood still as a statue flat against the wall and watched as she slid out the door casting one last longing look in his direction.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" He could hear Bonnie talking quietly on the other side of the door.

"You could say that. Oh, Bonnie, I am completely crazy for him." She confessed as they walked away from the door.

When Keith could no longer hear them, he left the room himself without fear of discovery based on Bonnie's promise not to say anything. He made one big mistake by not checking his reflection before leaving the room. If he had, he would have noticed that his hair had been completely messed up by Lyla's hands.

When he sat down next to Laurie, he was unprepared for her question, "What the heck happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" He asked innocently.

"You look like you stuck your head out of car window and, as you can't open a window on a jet at 30,000 feet, how in the world did your hair get all messed up?" Laurie enlightened him.

Keith's hands flew to his hair and he began quickly running his fingers through the strands trying to get them to lie like they would normally. "Must have happened from my nap."

"Oh no, brother, I'm not falling for that one. They looked just fine when you got up a little while ago." Laurie pointed out and then a light bulb went off in her head as she recalled Lyla walking past her scant moments before Keith came back to his seat. "You didn't!"

"Didn't what?" Keith wasn't following Laurie's train of thought at all.

"You were making out with that stewardess in the…..Keith Partridge you are a dirty old man." Laurie's voice had started rising on the last.

"Shhh…keep it down will ya?" Keith begged as he continued to smooth his hair down. He glanced over his shoulder at the rows behind them to make sure no one else in the family was aware of their conversation.

"Why should I?" Laurie teased.

"Because……." Keith struggled to remember if he had anything to bribe Laurie with. Nothing came readily to mind. "Because I'm asking you very nicely." He finished lamely.

"Alright, I won't say anything, but you'll owe me big time." Laurie gave in as she smoothed down some hairs that Keith had missed in conciliation.

"Thanks. I'll remember that." Keith smiled at Laurie. She really was a good sister.

Unfortunately for the co-conspirators, they missed the fact that Danny was sitting right behind them and taking copious notes. The two in front of him may have struck a satisfactory agreement, but Danny was not part of it and could use this ammunition at a time of his choosing.

xoxo

Shirley had never been so glad to see home again after their latest trip away and spent the first few days catching up on laundry and the other household chores that had gone undone while the family was away.

Three weeks had passed since they came back from Florida and the kids had settled into the new school year quite nicely. Chris and Tracy both liked their new teachers and were still young enough to be excited about going to school. Danny was as happy as could be expected about returning to school. He and Punky shared several classes together, so the year should hold some fun as Danny and his best friends since kindergarten did their best to bedevil their teachers.

Laurie had settled into her junior year of high school and was even a little giddy about a new boy in school who was shy but had finally started talking to her just days before in one of her classes.

Keith was harder to read. He hadn't talked about anything much at all having to do with school. It was also unusual because by now he would have had at least one girlfriend if not two. He was spending too many nights at home if he was seeing someone, or so Shirley thought. He explained it away by saying he had a lot of work to do on his new songs before Kip came to see them in a couple of weeks. On other nights, he would leave the house at around 7:00 and return just before his curfew of 11:00 for a school night. If it was a weekend, he wouldn't be home one minute before his 1:00 am curfew. When she would ask him how his night was he would simply say, 'fine'. Something was definitely up, but for the life of her Shirley couldn't figure out what it was.

It was shortly after dinner on a Tuesday when Keith walked in the kitchen while she and Laurie were finishing the dinner dishes. "I'm going out. I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?" Shirley couldn't still her question though she normally tried to give Keith more space. After all, he was 17 and almost an adult.

"Nowhere special. Probably just the taco stand." He answered absently as he headed out the door.

"Laurie, do you know what's going on with Keith?" Shirley normally didn't like asking one of her kids to squeal on another, but Keith's strange behavior was driving her a little batty.

"What do you mean?" Laurie asked.

"Well, do you know if he's seeing someone right now? Is he dating someone from school?" Shirley asked a more specific question hoping to get an answer instead of a question.

Laurie chose to answer the second question as it allowed her to tell the truth while not betraying Keith. "I don't think he's seeing anyone at school right now. I haven't seen him talking to any girl in particular."

"Isn't that a little strange?"

"Well, we are talking about Keith aren't we? I'd be more surprised if his behavior was normal." Laurie joked trying to deflect some of Shirley's curiosity.

Shirley wrinkled her nose at her daughters comment. "It's just that Keith usually runs through girlfriends quicker than he runs through socks and yet he hasn't mentioned a girlfriend since school started." Laurie laughed at Shirley comparing her son's love life to socks. "You don't think that April breaking up with him before vacation has sent him off the deep end do you?"

"No mom, I don't think April has anything to do with Keith's current state of mind. I mean, he's even talked to her a few times at school. He knows she's seeing someone else and it doesn't seem to bother him." Laurie assured her Mom as best she could.

Later that evening, Laurie was sitting at the desk in the living room doing homework and Shirley was sitting on the couch reading a book. Both jumped when the front door slammed open admitting Danny and Punky. It was 7:30 on a school night.

"Punky, don't you think you should be getting home?" Shirley asked glancing at the clock. "Your mother will be calling any minute asking if you're here."

"Why Mrs. Partridge what better place could I be then with you and your lovely family?" Punky delivered this in his most charming voice.

"Even still, I think you should head home, don't you?" Shirley smiled at the young man's antics. After years of Punky's pseudo-suave lines, she'd become immune.

"Yeah Punk, you better get home. If your Mom gets mad at you she won't let you go on that camp out we have in a couple of weeks." Danny shooed him out the door.

"Where were the two of you for so long?" Shirley asked.

"We were at the taco stand." Danny said as he sat down on the couch and reached for his Monetary Report magazine.

"Really? Did you see Keith?" Shirley asked only because she knew how mad Keith would be to share his hangout with his younger brother who likely did everything possible to embarrass his older brother.

"No, he wasn't there." Danny said without looking up.

"He wasn't?" Shirley asked surprised. Keith was usually very good about telling her where he was going. She idly wondered what happened to change his plans.

"Nope." Danny confirmed.

At 9:00 Danny headed up to bed at Shirley's urging and Laurie headed up at 10:00 leaving Shirley to a quiet house for the first time since the kids had gotten home from school. She had an hour before Keith was due home. She settled in to enjoy her book.

At 10:58, the front door opened again to admit her eldest. He threw a 'hey Mom' in her general direction as he headed toward the stairs.

"How was your night?" Shirley's question stopped Keith's progress as he had just put his right foot on the bottom stair.

"Fine. Well, good night." He said as he started up the steps again.

There was that word again, fine. That has been his answer for the past three weeks. Before he could get up two more stairs Shirley's next question stopped him again. "How was the taco stand?"

"Alright, I guess. Why do you ask?" Keith still hadn't turned around.

"No reason. Good night." Shirley watched her son continue up the stairs never having turned around. He missed the frown on her face. Had her son just lied to her or had he not gone to the taco stand until after Danny had been there? She'd have to watch more closely, but she didn't want to overreact.

xoxo

Keith was never so glad to see a day of classes end as he was on Friday. He and Lyla had made plans to spend some quality time together at a friend's apartment. One of Lyla's coworkers was out of town and had offered her apartment to Lyla for the weekend. Lyla had said she'd wanted to cook for him. She followed that with 'and then we'll see what happens.' They would have as much of Friday, Saturday and Sunday that they could spare for each other. Keith had several family obligations including practice on Saturday and Sunday and he still had to squeeze his homework in there somewhere. Darn uncooperative teachers loading on the homework for the weekend.

"Hey Partridge!" Gordy, one of Keith's friends hailed him from the bottom of the steps of the school as Keith headed out the door to freedom.

"Hey Gordy! What's up?" Keith stopped hoping that this conversation wouldn't last too long. He was supposed to meet Lyla at 4:00 already and he wanted to get home and take a shower first.

"Where you been lately?" Gordy asked noting Keith's impatience.

"Around."

"We gonna see you at the game tonight?" Gordy tried again.

"Nah, got other plans." Keith answered vaguely.

"Really? Anyone I know?" Gordy could read his friend like a book and knew there was a girl involved.

"Probably not." Keith grinned at his friend.

"So…..I take it she doesn't go to school with us." Gordy returned the grin knowing that with Keith the alternative was probably pretty juicy.

"Doesn't go to school at all." Keith agreed.

"How much older?"

"She's 19, almost 20. I met her on our trip to Florida." Keith admitted.

"And she just so happened to live in San Pueblo?" Gordy was surprised by that stroke of luck.

"Nope. I didn't meet her in Florida but on the way to Florida." Keith stayed vague but Gordy was no dummy.

"Partridge you dog! A Stewardess?" Gordy's comments showed his admiration for his friend's prowess with the opposite sex. "No wonder you've been ignoring all of the girls at school who've been throwing themselves at you."

"Yeah, I'm kind of off the market at the moment." Keith agreed.

"So, what are your plans for tonight?" Gordy asked with great interest.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Keith said as he started walking away.

"Oh come on Keith, not even a hint?" Gordy's last question only received a wave of Keith's hand over his shoulder as he walked up to Laurie who had been waiting for him to walk home.

"What was that about?" Laurie asked noting Gordy's enthusiasm.

"Nothing really. You know how easily Gordy is entertained." Keith reminded.

"True." Laurie agreed and they headed home.

Gordy continued to watch his friend walk away from him still in awe of Keith's luck with women and in this case it really was 'women' instead of girls. When another friend walked up to Gordy to talk about their weekend plans, Gordy inadvertently started the rumor that would soon sweep the school. Unfortunately for Keith, students who weren't in Keith's inner circle overheard the conversation and the story quickly spread.

xoxo

Saturday morning Keith got up, finished his homework and finished the chores that his Mom had assigned him for the day. It wasn't hard to do as he was still on cloud nine from his date with Lyla the night before. She had cooked a great meal and they'd spent the rest of the night talking and making love. They had taken full advantage of the borrowed bed and were both disappointed when Keith had to leave to get home before his curfew.

Keith had outright refused to lie to his Mom when Lyla had suggested an overnight for the next night. Lyla didn't understand Keith's views on parental respect as she did not have a good relationship with her own strict parents. The minute she'd graduated from high school she'd moved out and been on her own ever since. Lyla wasn't giving up though. She was just going to have to come up with another plan. She wanted the experience of waking up next to her new man.

Keith was so distracted that he didn't have one of his better practice sessions. His state of mind did not go unnoticed by the rest of the family.

"What is wrong with you Keith? It's like your concentration level is zero." Laurie observed after another take of Rainmaker was ruined by Keith stumbling over the words.

"Sorry, let's try that one again." Keith offered no explanation.

"Guess we'll have to." Danny said disgustedly.

Shirley had not said a word up to this point but had noted Keith's distracted manner. It was like his mind was a million miles away. In reality, his distraction was only about 30 miles away, but the effect was the same.

Keith started the count again and they tried it for the third time. He finally remembered the words but it still wasn't up to their usual standard. If they ever performed a song that sloppily, no one would be happy with the results.

"Alright, everyone. That's enough for today." Shirley finally called the practice short. They weren't going to accomplish anything at this rate. "Keith can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure Mom." Keith said as he set his guitar down in the stand and watched his sibling file out of the garage.

Shirley followed them as far as the door and shut it behind Danny who was the last one out. "What in the world is going on with you?"

"I don't know what you mean. I'm fine." Keith assured her and his earnest look almost convinced her.

"You have never had such a…..well downright awful rehearsal before. You're usually the one pushing us for perfection and today you can barely remember the words." Shirley reminded him of the last couple of hours.

"Sorry, I'm just a little distracted." Keith looked down while he said it not wanting to meet his Mom's eyes.

"Want to talk about it?" Shirley offered.

"Not really."

"Is it girl trouble?" Shirley tried again.

"What makes you think that?" Keith's surprise at her comment brought his eyes to hers.

"Well, you are a teenage boy who is all of a sudden so distracted he can't sing the songs he wrote. Usually that means he's having girl trouble." Shirley pointed out what she thought should be obvious. "Did you recently break up with someone?"

"No Mom. My…." He almost said love life, but thought that was too close to the truth, "I haven't recently broken up with anyone. Maybe it has more to do with the start of recording our new album with Kip." He hoped she believed his other possible reason for his distraction. "I think I'll just go out with the guys tonight and blow off some steam. Maybe that will work. I'll give Gordy a call later."

"Alright. Have fun and remember we have another session tomorrow. I expect you to be in top form." Shirley said as she watched Keith get up and walk toward her. He stopped to kiss her cheek and headed out of the door saying, "I will."

Keith cleaned up, then called Gordy and told him to meet him at the Taco stand. He at least intended to start his evening as he'd told his Mom he was going to. Lyla would be picking him up at 7:00, so he asked Gordy to meet him at 6:00. He watched Gordy pull up in his beat up old Chevy and head toward him.

"It's about time – you're late." Keith reminded him.

"Sorry, my Mom had me take out the trash before I left. It busted open and, well, it was a mess. What's up?" Gordy sat down across from Keith at the picnic table.

"Nothing much. Just killing time before my date." Keith said.

"So I'm just temporary entertainment?" Gordy asked sounding slightly hurt.

"You expected something different? It is Saturday night. When's the last Saturday night either one of us spent without a date?" Keith reminded him.

"Oh ho. This has to do with that stewardess, doesn't it?" Gordy whooped.

"Keep it down, will ya?" Keith looked around to make sure Gordy hadn't drawn any unneeded attention.

"Sorry." A chastised Gordy apologized, "But I'm right aren't I?"

"Of course you're right." Keith grudgingly admitted.

"So why am I your temporary entertainment?"

"Because I told my Mom I was going to spend some time with you and I didn't want to lie." Keith admitted.

"Ah, so I'm a balm for your guilt. In that case, I think I should be able to meet this girl." Gordy negotiated. He wanted to be able to see the girl that had honest Keith Partridge getting as close to lying to his Mom as Gordy had ever seen.

"No way." Keith said.

"Hmm…..no, I'm not sure where Keith is tonight, Mrs. Partridge, I haven't seen him." Gordy faked a response to a question.

"Knock it off Gordy. You know I'd cover for you if you asked." Keith said.

"Right, like I'm ever going to spend time with an older woman. Get real Partridge. You're the only one here who has that kind of reputation." Gordy hung tough.

Keith glared at his friend. He couldn't believe he was playing hard ball on this one. "Fine. But no talking about it with anyone. Deal?"

"Deal." Gordy smiled innocently.

"Come on, I'm already late thanks to you. She's picking me up at the park." Keith got up with Gordy happily trailing.

Before they took two steps, they were stopped by a group of guys and girls who had been congregated around a picnic table a few feet away. "Where are the two of you going?" One asked.

"Nowhere special." Keith responded.

"Wouldn't happen to be heading off to meet the 'older woman'?" Another guy asked.

Keith's head swung around quickly and his eyes narrowed slightly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, rumor has it that you're shackin' up with a stewardess. Hinky, Partridge, very hinky." The first one added.

"Now where in the world did you hear something like that?" Keith's eyes had moved back to Gordy who was looking rather baffled. Keith knew the only person he had told was Gordy and if word was out, that was the only possible leak.

"It was all over school yesterday afternoon." One of the girls of the group spoke up a slight tinge of jealousy in her voice.

"I didn't say anything. Honest, Keith." Gordy pleaded his case quietly in Keith's ear. "Well, I did say something to Archie, but you know he wouldn't talk either."

"Come on Partridge, 'fess up. You made her up to make April jealous." One of the guys who disliked Keith for his popularity with the girls pointed out.

"Well, if you did, I'm alright with that." A pretty blond in the group came over and put her arms around Keith glaring at the boy who had accused Keith of lying. "I was born a few months before you. How's about I be your older woman?"

While Keith was still working out whether or not to even respond to several of the comments, a car pulled up behind them. Keith hadn't yet bothered to disentangle himself from the blond when he heard a car door slam. The eyes of every male in the group in front of Keith were drawn to the beauty that was quickly approaching them.

"Hey babe, sorry I'm a little late. Ready to go back to my place?" Lyla said as she took the blondes arms and removed them from around Keith. Once she accomplished that, she quickly replaced them with her own and planted the biggest, wettest kiss she could muster on Keith's surprised mouth.

The males of the group egged Lyla on with catcalls and whoops that could be heard for several blocks.

Keith was not pleased with the overly dramatic public display of affection seeing as his life was an open book in many respects already. He also had to contend with pesky photographers who popped out at the strangest moments and in the strangest places. He'd learned to try to keep his private life as private as possible and Lyla was definitely not helping him to accomplish that.

He gently pulled back from Lyla and grabbing her hand, pulled her away from the group and towards the car. He heard Gordy saying as he walked away, "Guess that's your answer. She's real and she's definitely way out of your league."

"Get in." Keith instructed Lyla after opening the driver side door. Lyla got in and slid over just like she had when she'd picked Keith up the night before.

"What's the matter?" Lyla asked as Keith slid in behind the wheel. "You seem a little peeved. I mean, I've had better responses to my kisses when I used to practice on my pillow."

Keith started the car and backed out of the parking space before answering, "Look Lyla, I don't particularly like broadcasting my relationships in front of a crowd. When I perform, it's with a microphone and a guitar."

He regretted the harshness of his words as soon as he said them, but he couldn't take them back.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Laurie's date was not going as well as she'd hoped. She knew Mitch was shy, after all it had taken him three weeks to just talk to her, but his shyness hadn't abated one bit since the start of their date. She had just about run out of topics of conversation when they got to the taco stand. No Muldoon's Point for her this evening. Mitch would have likely jumped right out of his skin if she'd suggested it.

She followed him to a vacant table and he excused himself to get their sodas. While Laurie watched her date walk away she couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that she'd have a few minutes to herself to come up with some more topics of conversation. Mitch's answers had been nods, blushes and one word answers for most subjects and Laurie was very frustrated not to mention slightly bored. Thankfully the movie had been good and she hadn't had to talk for the whole two hours. It was also the first movie she'd seen in quite a while where she didn't miss a single minute while her date tried to distract her. Mitch had stared at the screen the whole time and not once had he made a move towards her; much less tried to put his arm around her or kiss her. It was looking like Mitch was a 'one and done' dating option for her. 'Keep this up Laurie and you'll end up with a reputation like Keith's' Laurie said to herself.

Mitch was still waiting in line when April walked up to Laurie. "Hey Laurie, who's the date?"

Laurie followed April's nod towards Mitch and sighing, said, "His name is Mitch. He's new at school this year."

"He's kinda cute." April said and then just stood there kind of awkwardly.

"Yeah, he is." Laurie agreed but couldn't help but mentally note that cute wasn't everything. She noticed April's unease and asked, "Is there something special you wanted to say to me?"

"Well…." April shifted her weight back and forth between her feet obviously nervous about something. "It's really none of my business. I mean after I broke up with him and all."

"I assume we're talking about Keith." Laurie tried to help April along, but really had no idea what this could be about. She glanced around and noticed that most everyone at the taco stand was watching their conversation. There was definitely something going on.

"It is. It's just that, well, I'm sure he'd be really mad at me if he knew I was talking to you about this…." April continued to prevaricate.

"You may as well finish. I've noticed that people have been looking at me a little strangely ever since I got here. I assume that what you want to tell me is the reason." Laurie thought back to her and Mitch's arrival and realized that whispers and looks had been following her since the beginning. She hadn't consciously noticed at first because she'd been focused on Mitch, but now it was painfully obvious that she was the center of attention.

"Alright, but please don't tell Keith that I'm the one who told you. Alright?" April sat down next to Laurie but facing the opposite direction. She only continued after Laurie nodded her assent.

"Well, earlier tonight, some of the kids were ribbing Keith about the rumor that started going around school yesterday afternoon."

"What rumor would that be?" Laurie asked. It was true that eventually she would hear all of the rumors about her and Keith, but many times it took several days before her friends would let her in on the secret. They said it was to protect her because most of them weren't true.

"The one about Keith and the older woman." April bit her lip and continued. "I know that most of the rumors about you and Keith aren't true, so I just wrote this one off as Keith trying to make me jealous. But…."

"April, why would Keith try to make you jealous?" Laurie asked confused with April reasoning.

"Wishful thinking, I suppose." April admitted. "Anyway, I found out tonight that the rumor is not just a rumor. It's a fact."

"And….?" Laurie wasn't quite sure what to make of this just yet.

"Well, a couple of hours ago, Keith was here with Gordy. They weren't doing anything special and there were no girls in sight for either of them. I thought maybe Keith was stag for the night. You know, pining away for me. Boy was I wrong." April continued at Laurie's nod of encouragement. "Anyway, it looked like Keith and Gordy were going to leave when some of the kids stopped them to tease Keith about this supposed older woman. Keith hadn't even had time to answer any of the questions when this car pulls up and this really pretty girl, or should I say woman, gets out. She's wearing this really fantastic outfit that makes her look like a million bucks. She walks up to Keith, asks if he's ready to go back to her place and then plants this perfectly obscene kiss on him."

Laurie's eyebrows rose, but she didn't say anything. She knew her reaction would be fodder for the rumor mill so she wanted to process what she'd heard before blurting anything out.

"How did Keith respond?" Laurie finally asked.

"He just finished the kiss, grabbed her hand and got in the car with her." April relayed the end of the story.

"Well, thanks for letting me know, but I'm well aware of Keith's new girlfriend." Laurie hoped her nonchalant answer would stop the worst of the rumors. "Hey, Mitch." Laurie continued as Mitch finally returned with their sodas.

April exchanged a casual hello with Mitch and then just before walking away said, "Sorry for interrupting your date."

"No problem, April. See you around." Laurie kept it casual while all the time wondering what Keith was up to. If he was really spending time with an older woman at her apartment, there was no telling how much trouble he could get into. She'd have to think about her options. Should she tell Mom? Should she talk to Keith himself before doing anything else? Would Keith even talk to her if she brought it up? Laurie's mind was flying through the possible scenarios and she forgot all about coming up with additional topics to talk about with Mitch.

"Ummm…..Laurie, are you mad at me?" Mitch said after five minutes of silence.

"Hmmmm?" Laurie pulled her mind back to the present with difficulty.

"Well, you haven't said anything for the last five minutes. I thought maybe you were mad at me." Mitch offered.

"Not at all, but I am kind of tired. Would you mind if we just headed home? We've got another long day of practicing tomorrow and I could really use the sleep." Laurie didn't want to make Mitch feel bad, but with this added distraction she wasn't exactly going to be the best date anymore tonight.

"Sure, no problem." Mitch agreed and stood up waiting for Laurie to follow suit. Laurie noticed that he was too shy to even offer his hand to her in assistance.

xoxo

"You did not just call me a porn star, did you?" Lyla said as she smacked his right arm as hard as she could, tears springing to her eyes both from the hurt of his words and the sting in her hand.

"Look, I'm sorry. It didn't come out the way I meant it to." Keith apologized as he rubbed the red spot on his bicep.

"Well, just how did you mean it to come out?" Lyla was not mollified by the qualified apology.

"I meant to say that I have to be careful when I'm in public. I can't just kiss people in front of other people. My life is very complicated Lyla. I thought after everything that happened in Miami you'd understand that." Keith tried to explain while he headed in the direction of the apartment. He was afraid that the scene of such happiness last night was going to be the site of a major fight this evening.

"Oh, you can't kiss me, your girlfriend, your lover, in public, but you can let that blond bimbo drape herself all over you and do nothing about it." Lyla was trying to understand, but was having no success getting past the picture of that pretty blond girl plastered all over Keith when she'd driven up.

"Lyla, girls have a tendency to throw themselves at me quite often. It's one of the perks and one of the bad things about being….well, me. Remember how we met? I seem to recall you plastering yourself all over me too?" Keith tried to joke lamely.

"That was an accident and you know it." Lyla quickly reminded him. "And, besides that, you really enjoyed our little encounter if my memory serves. Are you saying that you were enjoying the bimbo?"

"No, that's not what I meant. In fact, I didn't even really realize that she was there. I was so engrossed in trying to figure out how to respond to the conversation that we were having that I wasn't even really aware of her." Keith admitted. If he had realized the effect of his honest comments, he wouldn't have said them.

"You have a very pretty girl offering herself to you and you don't even realize she's there? Now I suppose your going to tell me that you weren't really 'aware' of me last night when we were in bed together!" Tears were falling from Lyla's eyes as she said those last words.

"Lyla, please. Let's wait to continue this conversation at the apartment. Apparently I haven't been choosing my words very wisely." Keith pleaded. He was definitely going to have to pay much closer attention to the conversation and driving was a distraction he couldn't afford. The rest of the drive was silent except for the occasional sniffle from Lyla who was doing her best not to cry.

Keith was never so happy to see the parking lot of the apartment complex. He opened the door, got out and then waited a full minute before Lyla decided to join him. She ignored his hand and turning away, walked to the door. She was still too angry and hurt to touch him.

Keith followed wordlessly and set the car keys on the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living area.

"Alright, please explain yourself. With the right words this time." Lyla finished sarcastically.

"Lyla, I really thought that you'd be able to understand what life is like for me. Ever since the group became a success, I've had girls and women throwing themselves at me pretty much constantly. And, for the most part, I ignore them." Keith started.

"Oh really! Like you ignored me on the plane? That grin you gave me was definitely not 'ignoring me'!" Lyla pointed out.

"Ok, I don't ignore them all." Keith admitted. "But, when I'm with someone I am a one- woman man. Look, flirting is part of my job."

"Oh that's rich. How many of your previous girlfriends have fallen for that line of b.s. before?" Lyla looked at Keith with amazement.

"Oh for crying out loud! Lyla, what do you think sells our records? I'm not foolish enough to believe that our sound has the only thing to do with it. It helps that Mom is beautiful, Laurie is exceptionally pretty and I'm not the ugliest guy in the world." Keith said getting more exasperated by the minute. "Fans like our look as much as they like our music."

"Ok, I'll concede that your looks are probably the biggest reason for your family's popularity with the females. But does that mean you have to let them drape themselves all over you?" Lyla went back to her original protest.

"Lyla, like I tried to tell you before, I wasn't even really aware that she was there. I was concentrating on something completely different. That's how little it mattered to me." Keith pointed out. "Girls are always doing things to get my attention. Some are more subtle than others, but for the most part they all want the same thing from me. They want me to notice them."

"So you're telling me that you didn't even notice that girl." Lyla was starting to see Keith's reasoning though she still didn't like it.

"Not really. Sheila is harmless, for the most part." Keith smiled in memory.

"Sheila, huh? I thought you didn't even notice her?" Lyla was back to being angry.

Keith fought the urge to roll his eyes or scream his frustration to the heavens. They had come full circle again. "I don't know how else to explain it."

"Try." Lyla said.

This point/counter point debate went on for quite a while. Each time Keith thought he had found the right words to explain things to Lyla, he'd either say something dumb trying to lighten the mood or she would take what he said all wrong. Either way, she'd either end up screaming at him or she'd end up in tears. Keith had never been so frustrated in his life. He was running out of words to describe the reality of his life and was quickly running out of the desire to even try.

After another attack of tears from Lyla, Keith tried one last time. "Look Lyla, I care about you. That's the difference between you and Sheila. Sheila means nothing to me while you do. You mean a lot to me."

"Are you saying you love me?" Lyla looked at Keith hopefully.

As Keith stood their slightly stunned by Lyla's question, she continued quickly, "Because I love you. In fact, I've know since the first time we touched. I felt this amazing sense of warmth traveling straight to my heart and I just knew. It was the same for you wasn't it?"

Keith thought that warm feeling had more to do with sexual desire than love, but wasn't sure how to tell her that without setting her off again. So he tried something a little different. "Lyla, I've never been in love so I'm not sure I'd recognize the feeling, but we haven't known each other all that long. I always thought love was a feeling that grew with time."

"Really, Keith, haven't you ever heard of love at first sight?" Lyla was smiling dreamily as if she had forgotten all about their earlier argument. Keith was once again surprised by her change in demeanor. How could someone change from one emotion to another so quickly? It made his head spin.

"Oh, I've heard of it, but I'm not sure I believe it. I've always assumed that guys who throw the 'love' word around early in a relationship were just trying to get a girl to sleep with them." Keith realized his mistake the moment the words left his mouth.

"So the fact that I didn't make you say the words before I slept with you makes me seem pretty easy, doesn't it? Just how many women have you slept with?" Lyla's look was once again angry. "Come to think of it, you seemed pretty experienced last night."

"A lot less than you are assuming at this point." Keith assured her. "I'm a fast learner."

"I'll just bet you are. Now that you brought it up, I really am curious as to how fast of a learner you really are." Lyla looked at him skeptically.

"Stop right there. I am NOT going to discuss my past relationships with you." Keith turned his back on her.

"So, you're saying that once we're married I'll still have to wonder how many other women might pop up and try coming between us." Lyla threw out a comment in her anger that she would normally have guarded with her very soul. Though she had been planning on 'happily ever after' since first meeting Keith she knew he wasn't ready to hear her master plan.

"Once we're what?" Keith's mouth dropped open in total shock as he spun back around to face her. They'd been on exactly six dates since they'd met less than a month ago.

"Married. Is that some kind of foreign concept to you?" Lyla sneered.

"No, it's not a foreign concept." Keith answered once he'd recovered enough to form words. "But seriously, Lyla, I'm seventeen. Marriage is not even on the radar screen yet."

"What if I'm pregnant?" Lyla said a little desperately. She realized her mistake as soon as she'd blurted the words. She'd planned on trapping him, just not yet.

"That's not possible." Keith said.

"Not possible? I beg to differ. What we did last night is the only way to conceive that I know of." Lyla snidely pointed out.

"We used protection. Plus you told me you were on the pill." Keith reminded her.

"Well I'm not." Lyla said triumphantly.

"You lied to me?" Keith turned away from her again as his anger began to build. Up to now he had been trying his best to patch things up. He was quickly realizing that this was a relationship that he was going to need to end quickly, not try to continue. Oh, how could he have been such a fool?

"You wanted it as much as I did." Lyla pointed out finally realizing that Keith was getting angry.

"You got me there." Keith admitted turning back around. "But it was pretty obvious that I had no intention of getting you pregnant. Not only did I ask you if you were on the pill, but I still used a condom."

Reuben had pulled Keith aside shortly after the first album came out and Reuben had had to run interference with some persistent young girls who had followed him home. He'd handed Keith a paper bag and said, 'just in case'. When Keith had looked inside the bag he'd found a box of condoms. Keith had been very surprised and Reuben had continued with 'you may not think you need them right now, but as you get more and more famous, there will be more and more girls. Eventually you're going to meet one who's, you know, willing. And, if I never give you another piece of advice as a friend and a manager, I'm telling you to use one of those Every…Single…Time'. Keith was never so happy for Reuben's advice. He'd been pretty embarrassed at the time, but now he was thanking his lucky stars that Reuben had foreseen the future.

"Yeah, well, condoms are notorious for not working. Just ask my best friend, Sue. She's only 20 and been married for two years. She and her husband used protection too." Lyla said a little smugly.

"It's a little early to be talking about this anyway. We only slept with each other last night. There's no way you can know if you're pregnant or not yet." Keith pointed out.

"True, but I just know I am." Lyla smiled secretively. "You'll see. And then you'll have to marry me."

"Lyla, I'm leaving right now." Keith said as he started walking toward the door.

"Oh no you don't. You are not walking out on me Keith Partridge. Get back here!" Lyla screamed.

"There is nothing left to talk about." Keith continued to the door.

"No, you can't leave me!" Lyla had changed tactics very quickly and was now pleading and crying. "Please don't leave me. We could be so happy together. Just you and me. We could lock ourselves away together and never get out of bed. Oh please, Keith, we're so good together."

Keith could see that she was not going to see reason. Not tonight, maybe never.

"Lyla, calm down. In two seconds I'm walking out this door. If you need to get in touch with me, call Reuben Kincaid. I will not be taking your calls anymore." Keith finally had his hand on the doorknob; freedom just on the other side of the door.

"You son of a bitch!" Lyla screamed her emotions going back to angry at his latest words. "Get out! I never want to see your face again."

"I'd say it's been nice to know you, but I haven't lied to you to this point so why start now." He knew that last comment would really make her mad so he made sure he was ready to close the door before he finished. He'd been right. Shortly after the door was closed, he heard glass breaking against it.

xoxo

Laurie's date ended earlier than normal, but not soon enough for her. She hadn't been having a very good time before the taco stand and had even been more distracted since her conversation with April. As Mitch walked her to the door, she noticed that the lights were still on. That meant Mom was still up and Laurie still hadn't decided if she wanted to talk to Keith before her Mom. She'd have to make that decision before she walked in the door.

Once on the doorstep, Laurie turned back around to Mitch. She had planned to say a quick 'goodnight', but was surprised by how close Mitch was. And, before she could get anything out, he was leaning in for a kiss. Laurie was pleasantly surprised by how nice a kiss it was. Who would have thought that a guy too shy to even hold her hand at any point during their date could kiss so well.

"Goodnight, Laurie. I'll give you a call." Mitch said as he walked away.

"Goodnight." Laurie murmured too softly for Mitch to hear and simply leaned against the door as she watched him get into his car and drive away. He had never looked at her again once he'd kissed her. What a strange night it had been.

After she could no longer see his taillights, she opened the door to find her Mom sitting on the couch reading a book. Everyone else was already in bed.

"Hi, how was your date?" Shirley asked as she saw the distracted look on her daughters face. "It's awfully early isn't it? I wasn't expecting you for another hour?" Shirley continued when her first question had not garnered an answer.

"Strange. Very strange." Laurie finally answered her mother's question.

"Strange! What do you mean by strange?" Shirley asked a little concerned. She'd never heard a date explained as 'strange'.

Laurie walked over and sat next to her Mother on the couch. They'd always been close and this was one date she wouldn't mind sharing ALL of the details on. She proceeded to explain Mitch's odd shy behavior all night and finished with the surprise kiss at the door.

"It's always the quiet ones. Isn't it?" Shirley answered with a smile.

"I guess so." Laurie laughed and hugged her mother. "I was so sure that I wasn't going to accept another date with him, but now I'm just not sure."

"Hmmm….I'm not so sure either. He may be one of those 'snake in the grass' kind of guys. Be very careful young lady." Shirley teased.

"I doubt it, but thanks for the advice anyway." This would have been a perfect opportunity to talk to her Mom about Keith's situation, but she had just decided to talk to Keith first. "Well, I guess I'll head up to bed."

"I'll head up with you. Your brother won't be home for another couple of hours if I guess right." Shirley said as she placed the bookmark in her book and got up to follow her daughter locking the door and turning off the lights as she went.

"Knowing Keith, you're right." Laurie and her Mom proceeded up the stairs arm in arm.

xoxo

Reuben jerked upright and pushed his night mask up onto his forehead as he finally registered that it was his phone that had woken him from a deep sleep. He reached over, turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the phone. "Danny, this better be a national crisis!" Reuben said angrily into the phone.

"Reuben, it's me Keith." Reuben was still not fully awake, but he could hear a tinge of nervousness in Keith's voice.

"Keith? What are you doing calling me at…." Reuben reached over and grabbed his alarm clock to look at the face more closely, "12:10 in the morning."

"I need a ride." Keith said plainly.

"What? Where are you?" Reuben's voice was rising.

"I'm in Ukiah at the all night café on Main Street." Keith answered.

"What in the world are you doing there?" Reuben asked.

"Can we just stop with the 20 questions until you pick me up? I'll tell you everything on the ride back." Keith assured him.

"Alright, give me half an hour. I've gotta put some clothes on and I'll be right there." Reuben didn't need to keep asking questions to know that whatever the story, it had to be good….or bad depending on your perspective. Keith had never called him before to be picked up in another town. In fact, if he was a betting man, and he was, he would have bet it was just Danny making up another crisis where none existed. Unfortunately for all of Keith's calmness on the other end of the line, Reuben was quite certain this situation had much more potential for problems than any time that Danny had called him.

Twenty-nine minutes after hanging up the phone, Reuben pulled into the almost empty parking lot of Mo's Café in Ukiah. He'd broken several speed limits, but hadn't wanted Keith stranded in the middle of the night for longer than necessary. He walked into the café to see a bored middle aged waitress reading a magazine sitting behind the counter. After nodding at her when she looked up, his gaze proceeded to sweep the room. In the far corner he finally spotted Keith sitting at the table with his head in his hands. A coffee cup sat in front of him and Keith was staring into it like he was expecting his future to be told in the ground left on the bottom.

"Hey, kid." Reuben said as he walked up and took a seat in the booth across from him.

"Thanks for coming Reuben. I didn't know who else to call. I was sitting here for a while before I realized what time it was and I didn't want to call Mom so late." Keith said tiredly.

"So, you want to tell me what's going on?" Reuben asked his faced wreathed in concern.

"Yeah, sure. But not here, ok? Can we go back to your place?" Keith said looking around furtively half expecting Lyla to pop out and continue their fight in a more public venue.

Standing up, Reuben noticed the bill for Keith's coffee sitting on the table. "You pay the bill yet?"

"No, actually. I used the last of my money on the pay phone. Do you mind?" Keith asked.

"Not at all, kid, not at all." Keith was notorious for being broke and Reuben wasn't surprised to hear he hadn't had enough money for coffee much less a cab back to San Pueblo.

Reuben settled with the waitress, gave her a nice tip and followed Keith to his car. He wasn't sure if he was looking forward to the explanation or if he was dreading it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was 1:30 before Reuben had finally gotten the whole story on Keith's late night adventure. He'd settled Keith on the couch and headed back into his bedroom. He'd told the kid he would call his mother so she wouldn't worry. Keith had also made him promise not to tell her anything. Not that he was looking forward to it, but Keith felt that his Mom deserved to hear the details from him. Reuben was only too glad to comply. He did not begrudge Keith that conversation and knew that the one he was going to have shortly would be much less uncomfortable but still not easy.

Reuben took a deep breath, settled on the side of the bed and looked at his phone. He hoped his call didn't wake the whole household, but knew he couldn't wait any longer. Reaching over he picked up the phone and dialed the number that had quickly become part of his memory, he called it so often. This was the first time he dreaded it.

After two short rings a groggy Shirley picked up the phone, "Hello."

"Hey, Shirl. It's Reuben." He started.

"Is everything alright, Reuben? It's….." Reuben could picture her reaching over to the alarm clock to check the time just as he had done a short time earlier that night. "1:30."

"Everything is fine. I just called to let you know that Keith is here."

"What? Why?" Shirley had continued to read in bed once she and Laurie had headed upstairs. She always tried to stay awake until all of her kids were safely tucked into bed. She had only recently lost the battle to sleep, but it had been before Keith's curfew because she hadn't been worried. Now she was worried.

"It's a long story Shirley and Keith wants to be the one to tell you. Suffice to say he's alright. Can you live with that?" Reuben negotiated.

"I suppose so. You're sure he's alright?" Shirley asked again. Shirley was still concerned about her son, but if he was with Reuben and Reuben said he was alright, she knew he was physically fine.

While Reuben answered in the affirmative, Shirley heard a soft tap on her door. Shortly after, Laurie's head peaked around the corner. She waved her in.

"Can I talk to him?" Shirley needed confirmation even though Reuben had just told her he was fine. Hearing his voice would go a long way toward alleviating many of her fears.

"He's already asleep on the couch. He's had a bit of a rough time, but he's truly alright. What he needs most right now is sleep." Reuben reasoned.

"I suppose." Shirley really wanted to protest more but trusted Reuben to do what was right for Keith. While Shirley glanced at Laurie, Reuben continued on in her ear telling her that Keith wanted Shirley to come to Reuben's apartment for their talk. He didn't want any eavesdroppers on the conversation.

"Alright, then I'll see you in the morning. Thanks for calling Reuben." Shirley hung up the phone.

"What did Reuben want?" Laurie asked as she perched herself on the side of the bed.

"Keith's there. He just wanted to call me to let me know so that I wouldn't worry." Shirley said quite obviously worried.

"Oh." Laurie said meekly and quickly turned her head.

Shirley noted Laurie's odd behavior. "Alright, what do you know?"

"Me? What could I know about Keith being at Reuben's?" Laurie quickly tried to cover.

"I don't think you know why Keith is at Reuben's, but you know something or you wouldn't be avoiding looking at me." Shirley pointed out.

Laurie quickly looked at her mother and smiled wryly. Her mother always could read her like an open book. "Well, it's not much but April couldn't stop herself from telling me. She said it was to protect Keith but I tend to think she had other motives."

"So what did she tell you?" Shirley asked as patiently as possible.

"That Keith was dating an older woman." Laurie decided that short and sweet would work best.

"Older? How much older?" Shirley asked her curiosity really peaked now.

"I'm guessing around 19 or 20, Mom." Laurie pictured the pretty stewardess in her head and thought she was probably pretty close with that guess.

"Do you know her?" Shirley finally realized that her daughter knew much more than she was letting on.

"Not really. Keith met her on the flight to Miami. She was one of the stewardesses." Laurie couldn't seem to bring herself to look at her mom again.

"So this has been going on for almost a month?" Shirley asked. At Laurie's nod, Shirley continued, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't think it was a big deal. Keith wasn't seeing her all that often and he never really talked about her. I just assumed that they weren't really dating and that he was a little broken up about it. Until tonight that is." At Shirley's raised eyebrows Laurie continued. "Apparently she picked Keith up at the taco stand in front of everyone who was there. She made quite a scene from what April said. And, according to April's description, Keith wasn't too happy about it. I don't think April realized he was mad, but I could tell from her description. You know how Keith gets real quiet when he's mad? Well, he didn't say a word just hauled her out there."

"Oh dear. It does sound like he was pretty mad." Shirley agreed. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

"There are several pertinent pieces of information I could share with you." Came a familiar voice from just outside the slightly open door.

Laurie and Shirley looked at each other in exasperation, "Danny, what are you doing out of bed?"

"The phone woke me up and I realized that I was starving." Danny admitted as his robe clad body slid all the way into the room.

"Starving! You ate two portions at dinner." Laurie reminded him.

"Yeah, but Mom made me go out and play afterwards so I worked up an appetite. Don't you want to know about Keith's new girlfriend?" Danny brought the conversation back to the pertinent subject.

"Yes, if you have information I suggest you come over here and share it."

"Well, if you insist, Mom." Danny bound over to the bed and leapt up next to Laurie. "Her name is Lyla something, she's nineteen but almost twenty, she's a bit of a chatterbox and, for some unknown reason, she's crazy about Keith."

"Oh? Just how do you know all this?" Shirley couldn't stop herself from asking even though she knew she wouldn't like the answer. She was quite certain her middle son had been eavesdropping again. She had tried several times to show him the evil of listening in on other people's conversations, but he just wouldn't stop. For once she was glad she hadn't been successful.

"On the flight out, I sat right next to where the stewardesses keep all their stuff. Do you know that they almost never stopped talking?" Danny mentioned this because their ability to talk almost non-stop without saying anything that Danny saw as truly important completely amazed him.

Shirley just raised an eyebrow and Danny continued. "They would take turns volunteering to take refreshments to the pilots just to walk past Keith. Can you believe that? It was disgusting."

"Mhmmm. And, just what did you hear specifically about this girl named Lyla?" Shirley prodded.

"Well, I noticed her when we got on the plane. She's a knock-out. She was the one that ended up draped all over Keith when there was some turbulence. Everybody saw it. When she finally unwrapped herself from around Keith, she went back to the kitchen area and proceeded to gush about the experience. I'm telling you it was positively nauseating."

"Leave out the personal commentary and tell us the pertinent details." Laurie suggested hoping to find out everything she could.

"Well, that's most of it. I found out her age because they were talking about how much older each of them was than Keith. One of the stewardesses who was twenty-five asked if eight years was too much. Man, she's almost old enough to be my mother and she thinks she's young enough to date Keith?" Danny shuddered to think of it. Mid-twenties seemed almost ancient to him.

"Well, I wouldn't quite call her a senior citizen, but I agree she would have been too old for Keith." Shirley agreed. She'd have laughed at her son's views on age, but the subject was too serious. Something had happened to keep her son from coming home that night and she was fairly certain that this stewardess had everything to do with it.

"Well, I don't think Lyla's too old for him, though." Danny quickly pointed out.

"Oh? Why not?" Laurie asked.

"She's too pretty to be too old." Danny reasoned.

"Danny, that doesn't make any sense." Laurie pointed out.

"It does to me and it sure does to Keith." Danny gave an evil grin.

"That's enough, young man." Shirley chided concerned, though, that Danny was probably right. If Lyla was as pretty as Danny described, Keith hadn't stood a chance. She knew her eldest son's proclivity for pretty girls. He loved them and unfortunately for her, they loved him right back. If this kept up she'd have grey hair before too long.

"What about since we've been back from Florida?" Shirley asked figuring that Danny had more information.

"Well, he's gotten calls from her about half a dozen times and each time he's left shortly afterwards." Danny said.

"And, just how do you know this?" Laurie asked.

"Well, three of those six times I answered the phone. When I asked Keith who it was he told me to mind my own business so I knew it was someone important." Danny reasoned.

"How do you know about the other times?" Laurie couldn't help but ask completely fascinated by Danny's ability to know exactly what everyone else was up to.

"Well, when I heard the phone ring, I ran to get it but Keith had beaten me to it. Almost as if he was expecting the call. He seemed to talk in code cause it sure didn't make any sense to me, but like the times before he left right after the call. I'm no dummy, so I followed him once and saw Lyla pick him up at the park. She sure likes to kiss. As soon as Keith would get in the car, she'd plant a big one on him. Gross." Danny was starting to notice girls, but kissing still seemed pretty disgusting. At least the kind of kissing that Keith and Lyla were doing. They were not the kind of kisses you gave your Mom or Grandma.

"Is that everything?" Shirley was starting to get a much better picture of what Keith had been up to without her knowledge. He'd been quite subtle about it; never breaking curfew and never lying to her. He'd always told her when he was going out and when he'd be home. He had just left out the part about where he would be.

"Yep. Is Keith in trouble?" Danny asked.

Shirley gave Danny a look that told him to mind his own business and said, "Get back to bed, young man."

"I'm going, but can I get a snack first. I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep with all the noise my growling stomach is making." Danny pleaded his case.

"I think you'll survive. Now go." Shirley shooed him off the bed and watched him scamper out the door.

"Anything you have to add?" Shirley asked.

"I don't think so." Laurie added sheepishly. "Oh, Mom, I'm really sorry. If I had thought this was any big deal I would have told you. You believe me, don't you?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I do." Shirley leaned forward and kissed Laurie on the cheek. "I know you and Keith tend to look after each other for me. Believe me it helps me sleep at night."

Laurie beamed, "Thanks Mom. Well, I guess I'll be able to sleep a little better now. Goodnight. I love you."

"Goodnight, honey. I love you too." Shirley only wished she could say the same for her ability to sleep. Although she would have to try. Reuben had told her to come tomorrow morning sometime after 9:00. Well, she'd be there at 9:00 sharp.

xoxo

After putting Laurie in charge of the rest of the kids, Shirley actually knocked on Reuben's door at 8:57 the next morning. She hadn't slept much, but she was too keyed up to realize she was tired. She didn't, however, refuse the coffee Reuben offered once he let her in.

"Where's Keith?" She asked.

"He's in the shower. It should give us a few minutes to talk before he gets out here." Reuben handed Shirley a coffee cup, waived her onto one of the stools by his breakfast nook and continued. "He's feeling pretty foolish right now, so you may want to measure your responses."

"Foolish about what? Laurie and Danny told me a little bit about what's going on, but why on earth did Keith call you last night instead of just coming home?" Shirley had more questions but thought she better give Reuben a chance to answer.

"He was in Ukiah when he called me, Shirl. He and this girl, Lyla, were at someone's apartment. When he left he didn't have a ride. And, knowing Keith and his finances, he didn't have cab money to get home either. At ten minutes after midnight, I guess I looked like the lesser of two evils." Reuben tried to give her information while still abiding by Keith's wishes to be the one to tell Shirley about Lyla.

"Oh Reuben, I wish he had just called me. I have been so worried. Still am actually. Maybe I'll feel better once I see him. But right now, I just have this pit of worry churning and churning. Can't you tell me anything?" She begged trying to stop her maternal fears from taking over. Even though she knew he was physically alright, she just couldn't stop her fears from making up all kinds of outlandish stories.

"Sorry, I promised the kid I'd let him tell the story. He should be out any second. I just heard the water shut off." Reuben topped off Shirley's coffee cup after refilling his own.

Moments later Keith stepped out of the bathroom with Reuben's robe on and a towel over his wet hair. "Hey Reuben, do you have a hair dryer?" Keith said without looking up.

When Reuben didn't answer, Keith took the towel down and looked right at his Mom. "Um…..Hi."

"Hi yourself." Shirley smiled as she put down her cup, walked over to her eldest and enveloped him in a very happy hug. Keith returned it wholeheartedly not realizing how much he needed the affirmation of his Mother's love until just now.

"Well, I'll just disappear for a little while." Reuben said as he headed for the door.

"No, wait. I think you should stay and hear the whole story. I only told you part of it last night." At Reuben's accusing look he continued, "I was too tired for the whole sordid thing."

Looking down at the towel still clutched in his hand. "Let me put some clothes on and get rid of this towel." Keith followed that by disappearing back into the bathroom.

A couple of minutes later he came back out to find Shirley and Reuben sitting on the couch waiting for him. He'd put on his clothes from the night before and combed his wet hair. Reuben had never answered him about the dryer, so wet would have to do.

Keith sat in the chair across from them and started his story. He talked for probably a half an hour without interruption. That's not to say that there hadn't been a few frowns and raised eyebrows or in Reuben's case whole foreheads but they hadn't stopped him.

He finished in a rush with, "I know you won't be happy with this, but we slept together. And, Reuben before you get upset with me, I used a condom just like you told me to."

"You what?" This was the first time Shirley had reacted this strongly to her son's explanation and unfortunately for Reuben it was to stare dumbfounded at him rather than her son.

Reuben squirmed and said lamely, "Well, I did what I thought was best. I wasn't born yesterday and I was a teenager once myself. I also remembered what I would have done at that age given the chance and believe me I knew Keith would have the chance once the first album came out. All those girls. Well, I just thought, why tempt fate."

Still shocked but somewhat thankful for Reuben's foresight Shirley asked, "So I'm assuming that you think Lyla is going to try to trap you?"

"She told me as much last night." Keith admitted.

Shirley would gladly have wrung the young woman's neck for taking advantage of a teenager, her teenager. Her son had been very dumb, but he was her son so she tended to lay the blame at Lyla's door. She had thought that she could protect her children from the seedier side of show business, but it had found them much quicker than she had hoped. Before stardom had struck, Keith had been a shy teenager. He hadn't dated as much as many of the other boys his age. But now that he was so sought after, the opportunities had presented themselves fast and furious. She had been a fool to think that he wouldn't give in to temptation. Once again she was going to have to modify her idea of good parenting. Oh but in this case it really hurt. Her first born was no longer a child that she could protect from everything. He was a young adult with adult responsibilities and worries.

"Mom?" Keith said tentatively as he watched her process the information he had just given her. When she raised her eyes to his, he saw hurt, "I'm really sorry, Mom."

"Oh, Keith. So am I." Shirley said her eyes beginning to mist over.

"Why are you sorry? I was the one who did something stupid." Keith reminded her.

"I'm sorry that I didn't warn you about the Lyla's of the world. The kind of people who will use whatever means possible to get what they want." Shirley could see that Keith was more concerned with her reaction than with what Lyla could still do to him. He didn't believe that she would possibly come back to haunt him, oh say nine month from now. Shirley's greatest fear was that she would get herself pregnant if she wasn't already. And oh how Shirley prayed she wasn't.

"Keith, the hair dryer is in the closet behind the bathroom door. Why don't you go dry your hair while your mother and I talk about how to handle Lyla?" Reuben shooed Keith out of the room. This was going to take some fancy foot work to get Keith off the hook with someone he was starting to suspect was not emotionally stable.

"We have got to get this girl's fixation off of Keith and quick." Reuben said once the hair dryer started.

"Yes, but how?" Shirley asked.

"I wish I knew more about her. Maybe Bonnie knows her well enough to help us out." Reuben suggested. "Why don't you take Keith home and try to forget about this as much as possible. I'll call you in a few days and give you an update."

"Forget about this? Are you serious Reuben? This girl could ruin Keith's life!" Shirley reminded him.

"I know that Shirley, but I am going to do everything to make sure that doesn't happen. Remember a happy client makes for a happy manager." Reuben tried to lighten the mood even though he could find no humor in this situation.

"Alright, but keep me informed. Call as often as you can. Let me know where things stand at any time, day or night." Shirley trusted Reuben enough to let him take the lead on this. Besides with the help of Bonnie he certainly had the inside track and Shirley would have been forced to talk directly to Lyla which had the potential of being disastrous.

"Don't worry Shirley, that kids future means as much to me as it does to you. And I don't mean that just as a manager. I've really come to care about your family, much as I hate to admit it." Reuben said uncomfortably.

"I know Reuben. We love you too." Shirley smiled at Reuben's discomfort and noted his inability to use the word love even though that's what he had meant.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Shirley had decided to continue with the Sunday afternoon practice session even though she knew Keith would be just as distracted if not more so than the previous day. However, leaving him alone to stew about this whole situation would only make things worse. Keeping Keith to his normal schedule would do much more to help allay his worries. Keep his mind on his music. That was her plan. She hoped it worked for Keith because it wasn't working for her at all.

The practice was erratic at best and downright awful at its worst, but at least it had made time pass; time that would have crept along like a snail waiting for Reuben's update.

They didn't hear from Reuben on Sunday or even Monday. The kids had gone to school and Shirley had fretted the whole day by herself. If she was this distracted at home she could only wonder at Keith's distraction at school. She just hoped his grades didn't suffer too badly. She hadn't even thought about the rumors that would be making the rounds at school on Monday considering Lyla's display at the taco stand. Laurie informed her of that once she got home. Keith was later in appearing than Laurie had been and Shirley was beginning to worry. Laurie had said that Keith had told her to walk home without him. He had said he'd made plans with Gordy.

Keith made an appearance just before dinner and disappeared shortly after saying he was going to do his homework. Once he was done with his homework he went out to the garage for the rest of the night and worked on his music. Shirley had not shared any more information with Laurie because she didn't want her worrying as well. However, being the only person in the house besides Keith who knew about this was making for a very lonely worried mother.

The pattern continued the next day. Laurie showed up sans Keith once again and told her Mom that he was with Gordy. When Shirley asked if the rumors had quieted down, Laurie frowned and said, "Not in the least. If anything, they're getting worse."

"Worse, how?" Shirley couldn't help but ask.

"Well, they haven't quieted down at all. I even think some of the kids have even started to stop Keith in the halls and ask really personal questions." At Shirley's raised eyebrows Laurie continued, "I ran into Keith right after lunch on my way to English class and he looked really angry. I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing. I obviously didn't believe him because he's normally a pretty happy person. Seeing him walking around as if he wanted to kill someone just isn't normal. When I ran into Gordy around the next corner I asked him if he knew what was wrong with Keith. Gordy said that some of the guys at lunch had really started giving Keith a lot of grief about Lyla."

"What did Keith do?" Shirley didn't like the way this story was going. She sure hoped that Keith had kept his cool.

"According to Gordy, nothing. He just got up, threw his lunch away which he hadn't even started eating and walked away." Laurie's head swung around when she heard a comment from just outside the kitchen door.

"Boy, it must be bad if he threw away perfectly good food." Danny piped in.

"Daniel Partridge, how many times do I have to tell you not to eavesdrop?" Shirley yelled at her forever precocious middle son.

"Sorry, Mom but I just walked up and couldn't help but hear the last comment. I wasn't technically eavesdropping. More like hearing something before I could make my presence known." Danny looked a little sheepish but truly did not feel like he'd deserved that one.

"Sorry, Danny. I'm a little on edge. How was your day?" Shirley waved him over to the table and set down a plate of cookies. Laurie had already headed toward the refrigerator to grab the milk. If Danny was home, Chris and Tracy would be right behind him. Shirley and Laurie shared a look that said they would continue their conversation later.

xoxo

Keith knew he should have gone straight home, but Gordy had talked him into going to the park for some basketball. He'd told him physical exertion would help him to work off his aggressions. And it had been working too. At least until the same group of jerks from lunch had come up and sat at a picnic table just off the blacktopped court. They'd started yelling lewd comments soon after. Keith just threw the ball to Gordy, grabbed his jacket and books and walked away. He was trying to be mature about this, but he was getting very close to giving them a piece of his mind. So far he had been able to tell himself that the results would not end in his favor.

As he walked away he heard Gordy yell, "You're just jealous!" That almost made Keith laugh, but the situation was nowhere near humorous. If they knew the truth they would definitely not be jealous.

Shortly after that he heard, 'hey wait up, Keith' as Gordy jogged up beside him. Keith did not stop moving. He needed to be far away from here. "You're not mad at me, are you?" Gordy asked when Keith didn't say anything or even look at him.

That comment finally brought Keith's eyes to his friend and he stopped walking. "No, Gordy. I'm not mad at you. Why would you think that?"

"Because I was the one who talked you into coming here." Gordy reasoned.

"Well it's not your fault that Rich and his buddies showed up too." Keith assured him.

"Right." Gordy agreed gratefully. "How's about we go to the taco stand for something to eat. If I remember right, you didn't have any lunch." When Keith hesitated he continued, "My treat. My dad paid me for helping fix the fence in the backyard. I'm flush with funds."

"Alright, sounds good." Keith tried a rather pathetic smile but it seemed to please Gordy and they jumped in his car to make the short trip.

When they had first gotten there, several girls from school had stopped them to talk. Gordy was surprised, but Keith even appeared to half-heartedly flirt with a couple of them. Keith never flirted half-heartedly. He either went all out or just wasn't interested enough to even try. He was always unfailingly polite to girls in general. It was all part of keeping up public appearances. But flirting and picking up pretty girls was a science for Keith Partridge. Gordy didn't even think Keith could only sort of flirt. Something was definitely off.

Gordy wasn't surprised that Keith's half-hearted effort had more effect than his all out efforts to pick up girls. He could tell that if Keith had just asked, all four of them would have accepted an offer for a date. Unfortunately, all of them were disappointed when Keith ended the conversation without popping that all important question to any of them.

Keith had flirted in hopes that he could put his troubles with Lyla behind him, but his heart wasn't in it. Besides, if he started dating someone else, that was a sure sign that things were over with Lyla, right?

He had been disappointed that none of the girls had been able to really pull his mind away from his current problems. That was the reason he hadn't asked any of them out. He didn't feel like his relationship with Lyla had been ended. There was too much left open.

Keith and Gordy ordered their food and sat at the furthest table from everyone else. Keith was hoping for a little privacy and so far people had left them alone.

Keith couldn't figure it out. He should be starving but the burrito in front of him held very little appeal. He'd taken a couple of bites but it was sitting in his stomach like lead. He dropped it back into the wrapper and grabbed his drink instead.

"What should we do this weekend?" Gordy tried about the tenth different subject since they sat down trying to draw Keith out.

"I can't do anything. Kip Randall should be here and he wants to work with the group on some of the new songs for the next album. We're gonna start recording in a couple of weeks so he thought he better see the rest of the family perform before we start." Keith's response was definitely the longest in the last two days. Gordy finally realized that talking about music may be the key to keeping Keith talking.

"Oh yeah? I thought he was supposed to see you guys perform in Florida?" Gordy asked unwittingly.

"Florida." Keith said with disgust and got up, "Look Gordy, you've been really great trying to cheer me up, but it's just not gonna work. I'm just gonna go home and get some home work done. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, Partridge. See you tomorrow." Gordy watched his friend walk away. His low mood was having a adverse effect on Gordy too. He was starting to feel a bit depressed himself. He just wished Keith had told him the reason. He was sure it had to do with the new girlfriend, but had no idea what the problem could be. Weren't new relationships supposed to be fun and exciting? Gordy watched Keith walk away with his head down.

Before Keith got too far, Gordy saw him stop and stiffen. He wasn't close enough to hear anything, but he knew Keith had heard something from his reaction alone. He saw Keith's head fall back as if looking for divine intervention and then turn slowly towards his right. Gordy followed his line of site and found the knockout from Saturday night. It was Keith's new girlfriend but from Keith's reaction he was not happy to see her. Gordy couldn't help but watch what appeared to be a major train wreck happening right in front of him.

Keith looked to his right and saw Lyla getting out of her car. This could not be happening was all he could think. "Keith, I'm glad I found you." Lyla said as she walked up.

"What do you want?" Keith asked resignedly.

"To talk." Lyla said hopefully

"We said everything we needed to say Saturday night." Keith reminded her.

"Keith it can't end that way. I won't let it." Lyla tried saying it with enough conviction that Keith would believe it too.

"Lyla, as ugly as it was, it was the end. No matter how much either one of us would like to change the outcome, things were said that can't be taken back." Keith just wanted this whole thing to be over but it appeared that Lyla was not going to let it go.

Keith glanced back at the taco stand which was still well within site. If she'd waited another minute, he'd have been around the corner and this would have been a little more private. But, privacy or not, Keith was not getting in a car with her. So public spectacle it would have to be – again. She sure knew how to complicate his life.

"Keith, I'm really sorry about that night. I look back now and realize I was being unreasonable. I want to make this work." Lyla tried for some tears thinking they might help her cause. She also moved in close and pressed her body up tight against Keith's while winding her arms around his neck. She knew they had a strong physical attraction and figured it couldn't hurt.

"Lyla, you and I have two completely different ideas of where this relationship was and where it's going." Keith pointed out and tried moving away from her clinging arms and body.

"What do you mean?" Lyla realized her tears were having no effect so she dried them and allowing Keith the space he appeared to want, stepped back to watch Keith's reaction. He seemed very distant and disinterested. That had never happened to her before. Most men fell all over themselves just to talk to her. All she normally had to do was smile and flash a 'come hither' look and they were all over themselves trying to please her. First her long-term boyfriend had dumped her by sleeping with another woman and now Keith was immune to her charms. If this kept up she'd start to get a complex.

"It means that I meant what I said the other night. It's over and I don't want to see you anymore." Keith really felt exposed as he noticed again that the crowd at the taco stand was mesmerized by his conversation. In fact, some of them were starting to get a little bolder and starting to walk closer hoping to catch some of the words being said. He'd have to finish this quick or it would be more fodder for the rumor mill.

"Baby, please, you don't mean that." Lyla moved in close again and started to raise her arms once again intending to put them around Keith. This time she intended to keep them there for a long time.

Keith saw her move and spiked it by grabbing her by her wrists and forcing her arms back down to her sides. He let go immediately not wanting to maintain contact any longer than he had to. "No, baby." He said the pet name with pure venom. "It's exactly what I meant. You are the last person on this earth that I want to spend any time with."

There, that should end the conversation quickly, Keith thought.

"You son of a bitch!" Lyla screamed and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. As Keith's head snapped to the side, he had a moment's regret that he hadn't held onto her wrists or at least seen that one coming. Man that really hurt.

He was also quickly aware of the gasp from the crowd that was watching the whole sordid scene. His plan to not feed the rumor mill had tanked spectacularly. If he had any luck at all right now it sucked. "Feel better?" Keith asked resignedly as he reached up to touch his burning cheek.

"A little." Lyla admitted already sorry she had hit him. "I really shouldn't have done that. Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah, where'd you learn to swing like that?" Keith couldn't help but be impressed with the punch she packed.

"Self defense classes. I really am sorry about hitting you, even though you deserved it. Since when did you become such an asshole?" She kept remembering back to the considerate friend and lover from their earlier relationship and just couldn't figure out where Keith's anger had come from. She wasn't able to admit her guilt in Keith's change in attitude.

"When you tried trapping me into marriage." Keith reminded her.

When Keith again glanced over her shoulder at the avidly watching group, Lyla finally looked behind her to see that they were the focus of attention. "Uh oh, I've done it again haven't I? I guess I better go."

Keith was a bit surprised by her comment thinking that she had intended on continuing their argument, but only too happy to accept her leaving. "That would probably be best."

"Can I call you?" Lyla asked making one more overture to continue their relationship.

"I don't think so." Keith replied and felt his cheek again. It was on fire.

"I really am sorry about that slap." Lyla said and then turned and walked to her car. She drove away leaving Keith to stare down the group of kids who had watched the whole thing. When the last set of eyes finally turned away in embarrassment, Keith turned for home once again.

xoxo

Keith had gotten home, snuck in the front door and headed upstairs for the bathroom hoping to put some cold water on his face before he had to face his family. He was pretty sure a petite hand print was well defined on his cheek. His luck was still bad as he ran into Laurie at the top of the stairs. His surprise at seeing her had not allowed him to turn his face away in time and she noticed the bright red cheek immediately.

"What happened to you?" She asked as she grabbed his chin to turn his face more fully into the light.

"I ran into a door." Keith told the obvious lie hoping Laurie would let it go.

"First door with four fingers and a thumb that I've ever seen." Laurie said as she guided him toward the bathroom. "Go put a cold wash cloth on it, I'll grab you some ice."

"Thanks Laurie." Keith said as she headed downstairs.

Laurie ran into Shirley making dinner and told her what happened but suggested her mom let it be as Keith did not appear to want to talk about it. Shirley nodded her agreement knowing that her son had been through a lot already and didn't need the added embarrassment. She just wished she could help him through this.

By the time Keith came down to dinner their was only a slight shading remaining on his cheek that you wouldn't have noticed if you didn't know to look for it. His demeanor was the same as it had been since Sunday, quiet and sullen.

xoxo

As the week progressed with no word from Reuben, the tension in the house could have been cut with a knife. Chris and Tracy were completely oblivious, but Danny and Laurie were well aware of the tension. They had started walking on egg shells around both Keith and their Mom who tended to lose patience more quickly than normal and for no apparent reason. Laurie did not ask Shirley or Keith for any details so she didn't have the whole story. Even so, she tried to act as a buffer between Danny and her Mom and Keith. Danny, left to his own devices, would have questioned either of them at the drop of a hat. Shirley was extremely grateful for her help, but made no mention of it as it would have required an explanation. An explanation Shirley was not prepared to give.

When the phone rang at 9:00 on Thursday evening, Shirley literally jumped. Thankfully the three youngest had already been sent to bed and Laurie was too involved in homework to notice Shirley's reaction. Keith was in the garage. She quickly got up before Laurie could offer and picked up the receiver, "Hello."

"Hi Shirley, its Reuben."

"Oh hi, Reuben. What's up?" She said in an overly cheerful voice.

"Can't talk, huh?" Thankfully Reuben picked up on Shirley's coded message very quickly.

"I'm fine, just fine." Shirley continued falsely mentally screaming at Reuben to get to the real reason he called.

"I think Bonnie and I have worked this whole thing out. She's here right now. She found out that Lyla had recently broken up with her long time boyfriend over another woman who claimed she'd gotten pregnant from Lyla's boyfriend. Anyway, it seems that Lyla was using Keith to salve her hurt and the whole pregnancy thing is likely her way to get back at this boyfriend. You know, get pregnant herself by someone else."

"I see." Shirley said still putting on a show for Laurie.

"Bonnie talked to Sue who is Lyla's best friend and she told her that Lyla was already regretting what had happened with Keith. Apparently Keith and Lyla had another run in after Saturday night and Lyla was feeling pretty badly about how she'd treated Keith. She didn't give any details, but it must have been a pretty interesting conversation because whatever happened, Lyla began to see the error of her ways and spilled everything to Sue. It ends up that she really is on birth control and that she and Keith have almost a zero percent chance of becoming parents."

"Oh, thank God!" Shirley said before realizing that Laurie was still in the room. "I'm so glad to hear that Bonnie is alright." Shirley quickly recovered.

"What?...oh, right someone else is in the room." Reuben had forgotten about Shirley having to be careful. "Bonnie is going to recommend Lyla for a job in Europe with the airline. This will get her far away from Keith and this whole situation. She'll only fly into the states on the east coast on occasion but mostly she'll fly between London, Paris and Venice. It's a great opportunity for her and will help us out immensely. Bonnie had thought about trying for the transfer, but decided to stay based out of San Francisco."

"Oh Reuben, that's wonderful. Simply wonderful!" Shirley said and meant it for two reasons. Keith's problem would likely disappear forever and Reuben appeared to have a new woman in his life that wanted to stick around.

"Make sure to relay the good news to Keith will you? I'll be stopping over tomorrow night to talk to him about Kip's upcoming visit and the recording dates." Reuben had moved on to the next issue as soon as he considered the previous issue handled. And the next issue for Keith was this recording session. The songs had to be ready to go in just a few weeks.

"I will Reuben and thank you. Say hi to Bonnie for me too." Shirley really meant to say thank you to Bonnie, but couldn't say that without giving anything away.

"Do you want me to relay your heartfelt 'thank you'?" Reuben felt good enough to tease.

"That's right. See you tomorrow night. Bye." Shirley hung up the phone and had to resist the urge to scream with happiness or at least beam with relief.

"Laurie did you want a snack before going to bed?" Shirley asked not able to sit back down but not able to run out to the garage without drawing suspicion.

"No Mom, I'm good." Laurie barely glanced up.

"I guess I'll go see if Keith is hungry." She said as she headed out to the garage.

She walked in to find Keith playing around on his guitar. She thought it might be one of his newer songs but wasn't sure as he appeared to be trying something new.

"Hey, Keith. I just got off the phone with Reuben." Normally Shirley wouldn't have interrupted Keith while he was working on his music, but she knew he'd want to know this.

Keith spun around quickly and just looked at her hopefully. Shirley took a moment to notice how tired he looked. Neither one of them had been sleeping well, but this news would change all of that. Shirley couldn't hold her beaming smile in any longer.

"It's over." Was all she had to say and she watched the tension leave her son's frame. A tension that had been there for almost a week without letting go.

"How?" Keith needed to know.

Shirley relayed everything Reuben had told her. When she finished, he put down his guitar and walked over to pull her into a very happy hug.

"I'd give one of these to Reuben too, but I think people would start talking." Keith said into his Mom's hair while still wrapped tightly in her arms.

She could only laugh happily while tears slid down her cheeks.

"Thanks Mom."

_The End_


End file.
